It’s a pleasure to see that companies are focusing on press trips as a tool for market engagement. After the visit to the production site in Pécs, Hungary, for Martin of Harman Group last April, I’m now back from Germany after visiting d&b audiotechnik for a packed and emotional program.
First stop: behind the scenes and the final evening of Jazzopen, a festival held in Stuttgart for 30 years, with a mixed lineup of big names (this year Lenny Kravitz and Sting) and interesting newcomers. Here, d&b installed their own system for the main stage sound, complete with Soundscape, their solution for immersive sound environments. We dedicated the second day to a visit to the company in Backnang, featuring presentations (the most in-depth and interesting one about Soundscape), discussions, and a factory tour.
Here are my immediate impressions of this trip, while I’m still on the return flight:
- From product to experience: Embracing one of the leading trends in our sector, d&b has evolved from being “just” a manufacturer of sound systems to an Experience Technology Company. Their goal, as explained by Melanie Stegemann, Vice President Brand & Corporate Communications, d&b group, is to “connect places, spaces, and people by creating, capturing, replicating, and distributing immersive experiences.” This shift from product to system to experience highlights a focus not just on the object but ultimately on the person.
- Evolving without changing: d&b has built its history on high-quality audio for large events, maintaining a “premium” profile. Even today, as their business equally relies on installed sound and live events, they have maintained this consistency.
- Accuracy: From the inflexible colored adhesive dots of quality control marking scratches or small defects we would never have noticed, to the exhaustive and repeated checks of every incoming component, to the future-oriented technological choices, to the careful and understated hospitality and catering with only glass bottles (which is not trivial!).
- Research and immersiveness: If it must be an experience, it truly will be. Soundscape is designed to recreate the 360° sound immersion that our world gives us. And more, it becomes an artistic but also practical tool, remembering that the sound experience, due to its connection with emotion and spatial perception, can be very powerful.
- Passion for music: Undoubtedly the driver that pushed the two founders in 1981 to create the brand and its philosophy, and that still characterizes the company’s expressions. A few examples: the passion felt in the explanations of d&b technicians during the festival, after hours of work and temperatures well over 30°C, and the company managers who danced and enjoyed a truly fun (and acoustically perfect) concert with us journalists.
Would you like to know more about the visit to d&b audiotechnik and the upcoming news? You will find a more comprehensive report in a few weeks. See you soon!
https://www.dbsoundscape.com/global/en/ https://www.dbaudio.com/global/en/
