Turbosound Japan launches at InterBEE
Published: ASIA
JAPAN: Amid signs of a rising Japanese pro audio industry, Turbosound Japan announced its formal launch at InterBEE 2010, with the manufacturer’s Asia market manager Chris Goddie on hand alongside the new company’s managing director, Cozy Hattori.
The announcement marks an agreement between Turbosound and Mr Hattori’s distribution company All Access, with a new division of the distributor being founded to deal specifically with the British loudspeaker brand.
‘It trades as a division of All Access,’ clarified Mr Goddie. ‘The company name is Turbosound Japan because we want the brand to be front and centre but the reality is that All Access is already set up in terms of a commercial structure so we may as well use that. Cozy knows a lot of customers already and it makes sense to use those channels and help him to develop new ones. We’ve taken the existing commercial structure and created a new operation within that.’
The formation of the company represents a break from Turbosound’s tradition of employing third-party distributors, but Mr Goddie explained that the decision related to Japan’s unique industry rather than a broader change of policy. ‘Japan has specific needs as a market and there’s very strong domestic competition here,’ he reasoned. ‘From Turbosound’s side a new solution was required. We felt that we needed direct involvement from the factory and we also needed a partner we could trust. Cozy Hattori is someone I’ve worked with for the past 17 years here in Japan. He knows how the market works and he’s intimately acquainted with the particular challenges that face this market. So we wanted the best of direct involvement with Turbosound helping out but also local on-the-ground commitment and someone who knows how to make it work.’
Asked about his plans for Turbosound in Japan, Mr Hattori explained that ‘the reality is that we’ll be looking for the installation part of the business – Turbosound offers a very wide product range to cover installations from small projects to large halls. This is the most important task for the next few years, and we’ll see good results, we think.’
Mr Hattori added that the deal will require an expansion of the current All Access business. ‘We require more people – for us some of these areas are quite new. But I think it will be worth it for the future. We’ve got a great product and that’s all it takes, but they haven’t been properly introduced to the market so that’s our first task, and then the results will come along.’