Christie Digital Company Profile

As a quickly-maturing A/V market, the Middle East has seen a great deal of change in recent years, from booming opportunity to the challenges of the global economic downturn. Ask many of the dedicated distributors in the region what they believe is the most significant long term change however, and they’ll likely name not the economy or the uptake of new technology, but the growing trend among manufacturers of setting up dedicated regional offices.

 Nor can you blame the companies in question for feeling slightly rattled at what is a fairly new phenomenon. While the majority of the manufacturer satellite offices that have opened so far have been concerned with training, marketing and after-sales rather than shifting boxes, the worry remains in some quarters of the industry that with an evolving market comes the eradication of the middle-man. The independent sales operation, which until now has felt secure in its position as a crucial component of any brand’s sales machine, is fearing the loss of its main advantage – local knowledge.

 Yet when it’s viewed on a grander scale, this shift in the way that the international A/V sector views the Middle East and Gulf can be seen as wholly positive for the regional industry. As major brands work to become more established in a part of the world that they believe is becoming vital to their future, business will increase. Arguably, nowhere else is this effect more visible than in the work being done by the regional office of projection specialist Christie.

 Based in Dubai but reaching out over the entire region, Christie Middle East has already played a significant role in demonstrating how the physical presence of a manufacturer in a growing market can augment sales for everyone involved in the supply chain. Crucially, it is about to go much further.

 Led by EMEA sales director Simon Smith since its founding in 2007, the office has so far concentrated its efforts on building a strong regional sales network while pushing to increase demand in the market. Now, with the level of its brand recognition at an all time high, the company believes that it is time to capitalise on the last two and a half years of sales activity with a marketing push capable of reaping the rewards that Christie believes the Middle East offers.

 The strategy is, explains the sales director, part of a long-term plan that came into action years before the office was opened. ‘Christie has worked in the Middle East market for a number of years, and we attended a number of Palme shows before we decided to open an office,’ he explains. ‘That came as a result of a relationship that we had begun to develop with Transguard and Emirates Group security – to help them realise a mission-critical control room at their facility in the Dubai Airport Free zone. In return, Christie was able to set up an office, as well as use that control room, which consists of displays and controllers, as a reference project for customers. Christie has been established in that facility for the last two and a half years now.

 ‘However, Christie has always been interested in the Middle East market going back many, many years, and it was a case of when, not if, we targeted it. Albeit from the UK HQ, we’ve always had a focus on this part of the world. The establishment of an office in Dubai enabled us to invest in the region, invest in the local people and a local team who ensured that we began to build on the relationships which had already been established. Since the office has been set up we have been able to offer a more targeted and supported service.’

 With almost three years of hard work having been poured into that project, Mr Smith believes the time is right to take the Christie brand further in the market, applying the Dubai team’s efforts not just to building sales, but to building the profile of the brand itself. Again, it is a central element of the manufacturer’s wider intentions and hopes for the region.

 ‘The Palme exhibition was central to our development before we moved physically to the region, and it has continued to be so ever since,’ he continues. ‘We want to try to move on and add to what we’ve been doing at the show. We already stand out there and people see us in a very good light. Among our competitors, we’re the only projector brand that really goes and supports it.

 ‘But we are also looking beyond that at other shows, vertical shows. signage is one example, and possibly cinema in the future. We’re talking to ISE about what they want to do in the region off the back of their success with ISE Europe. We’re very much committed to doing more shows.’

 However, the sales director adds that while major manufacturers may be looking to the Middle East as an essential new breeding ground for business, he believes that aside from Palme, there is currently a lack of necessary trade show activity within the region. ‘Unfortunately, we are relying on the international element,’ he reasons. ‘There are not a lot of local shows that are bringing the A/V communities together.’

 It’s not all about exhibitions, however: ‘We do a lot of bulletins to keep our partners informed. A lot of those bulletins are not just pushing a particular product, they’re pushing a training event, something new on our website, perhaps a new white paper discussing the advantages of one technology over another. It could be any number of things.’

 In training

 Asked why he believes that Christie has such a strong interest in the development of its interests within the Middle East and Gulf, and Mr Smith reflects that within the region ‘there is a thirst to know’, which itself drives an enthusiasm in the market to acquire the latest, groundbreaking products. However, he adds that another effect of the Middle Eastern passion for knowledge is the education process that must inevitably follow.

 ‘Every deal, every contact you have is an education process that you have to go through so that they understand – and it could be just one product versus another, a simple “hang and bang” type class room, or it could be something more elaborate like a 3D cave. For every project in the Middle East there is a certain amount of education that you have to go through. So you’re starting from an uneven base if you compare it to well-established markets in Western Europe. But it shows that the region is quick, not to adopt necessarily, but certainly to try to understand those technologies.’

 A lot of the work Christie ME has done in the two and a half years since it was established is to look at the cycles of business and take a long view. We’ll see the benefit of a lot of the work we’ve done over the next five to 10 years.’

Another challenge in terms of educating the market and helping it to continue its evolution is the price difference between high-end Christie products and the sometimes less costly alternatives with which it competes. For this reason, he adds, it is imperative to promote technical innovation.

 ‘We have to educate people to make them understand that Christie is offering a certain proposition not just based on value but also performance as well. That becomes a challenge when you have competition targeting the region just like we are, with products we don’t believe give the same proposition as the Christie offering.’

 “Christie’s product might meet a specific standard that someone else can also reach, but I believe that we have superior technology and superior support – we’ve invested a lot in that. Christie understands the needs of its customers in this region and supports their steps towards reinvigorating all their systems with new technology. It’s important that when they buy, they understand that the product is going to have a warranty and it’s going to be supported locally. It’s not just about trying to sell the cheapest box that there is. Christie has invested into the region to ensure that the countries that are technologically promising are guided in the right directions.’ 

So far, he explains, Christie Middle East has already trained ‘over 120 engineers on our three chip DLP technology and carried out two training courses on the Vista Spyder. Back in July this year, we trained a number of engineers on control room systems, with invitations made to the region in general. The Middle Eastern Christie office invested a lot of my time to make sure these courses happened. We’re trying to build up knowledge, which also helps the branding and the notion of what Christie stands for: to ensure that people are technically educated, and that they understand our systems and our value propositions.’ 

Nor is the manufacturer committing the error of viewing the entire region as one market, rather than individual areas boasting their own unique demands and opportunities. Instead, Mr Smith is quick to describe Christie Middle East’s view of the territory in detail. 

‘In UAE there’s been a huge amount of investment over the last five years, with the city developments both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. We’ve prospered as a result of that huge investment by the local authorities,’ he begins. ‘Saudi Arabia - another huge market – seems fairly immune to the international financial crisis, which hopefully we are just about to overcome. It seems immune because of its oil-based economy and the business that it is therefore able to generate. There hasn’t been a lot of investment there yet but we’re beginning to see that money flow through now in terms of university projects. AramCO continues to invest in both day-to-day and operational systems to make itself more profitable, and also educate its own people, so we’re still seeing a lot of impact in that area.’

The office has also recently acquired a broader responsibility than was first intended: ‘Christie Middle East has just taken over Northern Middle East. Now we’re seeing opportunities in Lebanon as well as Jordan, which we’re beginning to develop. Then there’s Qatar – in Doha especially we’re seeing a lot of fixed installation projects. All these countries are coming from a different era than the west and they have to invest to bring themselves up to national standards worldwide. Whether it’s a control system or a presentation, or a training environment; all these systems need to catch up with Europe. The Middle East now is one of those boundaries that we have begun to cross, and it needs to invest in whatever technologies are available. It’s an emerging market.’

As with any emerging market, change of an often dramatic nature is inevitable. The arrival on the ground of manufacturers such as Christie, complete with their own plans and strategies, is an indication of how that change is likely to continue as more companies decide that the Middle East is where a significant part of their future business lies.

 But as a market matures, new chances for doing business open up. The model that Christie is following is a good example of how the arrival of more branch offices in the Middle East can be an opportunity rather than a problem. While some distributors may be concerned that their expertise in the local market is about to diminish in value, they should take heart in the notion that they already possess another, arguably far more valuable commodity: to be trading in one of the world’s most desirable business regions.

www.christiedigital.co.uk/emeaen

Published in PAME November-December 2009