Clarity Alliance officially replaces BADA
BADA, the British Audio-Visual Dealers Association, is no more. It has officially been replaced by a new organisation, called the Clarity Alliance.
Born out of Project Grass, the Clarity Alliance is the new trade association for the UK's hi-fi and home cinema industry, with the primary purpose of promoting the benefits of quality home entertainment to new consumers.
Its aim is bring together the best of the UK's industry in the form of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, the media and PR/marketing consultants.
A series of promotional campaigns targeted at consumers will be designed to make people think about improving their enjoyment of music and movies at home.
To that end, the first campaign will focus on improving the sound quality of flatscreen TVs. You can read more about Clarity in our dedicated blog.
As for BADA, from July 11th it ceased to exist and all its existing members have been transferred to Clarity.
Alan Sircom (above), chairman of the Clarity steering committee, says: "We are clear what the industry wants us to do – that is to help get more people going into more stores so they can experience just what drives our collective passion."
At launch, the Clarity Alliance board comprises: Rachael Prasher (Publishing Director, What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision); Roger Batchelor (Roger Batchelor Associates); Simon Byles (Infidelity); Geoff Coleman (Acoustica); Vernon Hamblin (Unilet); Chris Henry (Overture); Geoff Mathews (Soundcraft Hi-Fi); Geoff Meads (Presto AV); Terry Murphy (Greenbridge PR); Miles Roberts (PMC); and Alan Sircom (Hi Fi+).
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Comments
Chebby,
Don't confuse the people on the board with the entire 'shape' of the alliance. The first board of Clarity is mostly made up of a combination of former BADA board members and those who were on the original 'Project Grass' steering committee. This is to make the transition from BADA to Clarity that bit smoother. However, we are all acting 'pro tem' rather than being formally elected; subsequent elected boards are mandated to form more of an equal spread of members from all branches of the industry.
The readers of my magazine are not the intended target audience for Clarity's campaigns. This means I can concentrate on the campaigns without thinking about perceived conflicts of interest - as I spend much of my reviewing life discussing high-end audiophile products, I can plan campaigns without having to recuse myself from whole sectors of my magazine's content.
As to the benefits of BADA and the BFA/FBA... we ported all that was good about what went before, but are trying to make the new alliance offer something more to reflect the changing face of the audio and video world we live in.
Yours,
The 'Dear Leader', el Presidente, Generalissimo, Eternal President of the Republic, etc, etc
(it's not gone to my head yet)
+1 As Clare said...
Chebby - I was at the Clarity Alliance meeting yesterday, and can assure you that there were many major brands represented, including (but not limited to): AKG, Arcam, Armour Group (inc Q Acoustics, Grado, QED) B&W, Cambridge Audio, Focal, Harman Kardon, JBL, KEF, Naim, PMC, and Richer Sounds. My own firm handles a huge range of brands from Canton to Optoma to Sonos to V-Moda.
And Roger Batchelor may appear be a one-man band - but he's a senior consultant for D&M Group (Boston, Denon, Marantz).
Ditto 'the PR guy and the website designer' - whom between then have 40+ years experience at major companies (Arcam; Yamaha) and are current technical trainers for CEDIA and others, teaching retailers/installers how to get the most out of internet-connected products, for example. And lord could this industry do with a bit more hands-on expertise when it comes to the web and new tech
That's a lot of potential support for a new organisation...
Roger Batchelor Associates seems to be a one-man consumer electronics training consultancy. (Just Roger.)
Simon Byles (not 'Bowles' according to Infidelity's own website) represents just one dealership. (His own.)
Acoustica is another, one branch, independent. (A quick check looks like the other dealers on the board are only representing their own shops too.)
There is a PR bloke and a website designer.
Alan Sircom's Hi-fi+ magazine tends to specialise in the very expensive 'high-end' hi-fi sector. Kit that is hardly likely to influence many ordinary folk to visit a specialist dealership for the all-important first time. (Quite the opposite in fact.)
PMC's Miles Roberts looks like being the only manufacturer represented on the board.
Where are the rest of the British manufacturers? Where are Sevenoaks or Audio-T or any other large/larger outlets for British manufactured hi-fi? (Ones that have more than one shop?)
Chances are that anyone who has never bought a hi-fi magazine (nor bought from a local BADA dealer) will have never heard of them or know what they do.
A good start would be to quantify and list all the (demonstrable) benefits that BADA and the BFA/FBA brought to the industry and it's customers in the past before we have any optimism about the new bunch.