Establishing a brand’s presence (especially in a new market) requires a lot. The right positioning, the right connections and the ability to demonstrate tangible performance with products: it’s all critical to success, and the challenge of obtaining all that is something K-array (specifically its U.S. division) went through very recently.
Reaching out to the company to speak on its experiences, CE Pro’s sister publication Commercial Integrator sat down with Sarah Puerini, Marketing & Communications Manager for K-array USA to talk on the company’s experiences and where they’ve been able to find success in meeting these goals.
Solving for the In-Person Experience
For a brand like K-array, whose products often defy expectations, the value of in-person demonstrations cannot be overstated. Puerini emphasizes that experiencing its systems firsthand is crucial for attendees to grasp their full capabilities.
“Hearing and seeing our systems in person is super important,” she states. “Our products don’t always make sense on paper alone. Most people do not think our Lyzard line can exude the power that it does in such a small form factor. In-person interaction allows people to experience the scale, clarity and control firsthand.”
This hands-on experience is a key differentiator for K-array and a primary benefit of exhibiting at U.S. tradeshows, such as CEDIA Expo (which happens to be the only residential tradeshow in the U.S. the company attends).
According to Puerini, it moves the conversation beyond technical specifications and allows the product’s performance to speak for itself. The focused environment creates high-quality engagement with professionals who are actively seeking solutions for upcoming projects.
“The show creates direct, face-to-face access to the people specifying and installing systems,” Puerini says. “Conversations tend to be project-driven, which makes it easier to understand where our solutions fit and how we can support integrators and designers more effectively.”
The Right Positioning
Of course, while CE Pro’s coverage tends to lean residential, K-array’s footprint spans both residential and commercial, which are two segments that the company routinely has to balance when positioning its products.
For instance, the company launched its Dragon Series last year while at CEDIA Expo. This new line of products was conceived to bring a genuine professional concert experience into a residential setting, a concept that resonated deeply with the show’s attendees.
“This past September, one of our most significant launches was the new Dragon Series introduced around the idea of bringing a true professional live concert experience into the home,” Puerini explains. “Dragon is impactful because it rethinks what residential audio can be.”
That “live concert performance” is not just a marketing line, as K-array has plenty of experience being used in commercial venues. In fact, having opportunities to juxtapose many of its commercial solutions alongside residential is something very valuable to the brand, especially given the dualistic nature of an integrator’s business nowadays.
“We always love exhibiting at CEDIA Expo / CIX because it provides a strong platform to showcase our residential solutions while extending our reach into the commercial market,” Puerini says. “Each year, we connect with new audiences who are often wowed by the performance, flexibility and design of our systems.”
Finding Measurable Results for Lasting Impact
Getting in front of people is one thing, however. Ensuring that your efforts are generating impact is another issue entirely, and one that can often be quite difficult especially as it comes to avenues of engagement outside of the company’s analytics ecosystem, as K-array has found out.
While the return on investment (ROI) for trade show participation can sometimes be difficult to quantify precisely, K-array USA ensures that when it does attend an event, it’s making sure that it’s identifying potential business deals that stem from attendance.
Beyond immediate project wins, the long-term value lies in sustained brand visibility. The consistent, year-after-year presence builds brand equity and keeps the brand at the forefront of integrators’ minds.
This ongoing exposure is vital as projects often have long development cycles. A connection made at one show may not materialize into a sale for months or even years.
“Just as important, the show provides consistent, repeated exposure year-after-year,” Puerini says. “That ongoing presence helps keep K-array top of mind as projects develop and opportunities take shape over time.”
Looking Towards the Future
None of this would leave much of a mark without innovative products, however; and K-array is very intentional when it comes to planning and positioning its brand around big events where it knows it can get plenty of eyes on its solutions.
This year the company is already stating it has big plans to highlight the Koral KO102 column loudspeaker, the newest addition to its portfolio.
“Koral is designed to deliver professional performance in visually sensitive spaces including the home environment. Combining controlled directivity with a minimal footprint Koral provides the output of a larger system while remaining visually discreet,” Puerini says.
This new product exemplifies K-array’s core philosophy: merging high-performance audio with elegant design. The Koral’s versatility allows it to function as a center channel in a home cinema when mounted horizontally or as left, right and surround channels.
Part of that strategy, of course, lies within the tradeshow experience, which is something integrators can look forward to this year as the company returns to CEDIA Expo.
