he Product Design Track (taking place all four days of the convention), assembled and moderated by Dan Foley, director of European sales for Audio Precision, will focus broadly on product design, with an emphasis on system-performance measurement. New for this year is a special presentation on the importance of properly branding and marketing new professional audio products. Presented by noted industrial designer Adrian Weidmann, The Power of the Brand will define the meaning of branding and explore its power and importance for the commercial success of product development and service, be it a microphone, audio processing software, or a recording studio. As Weidmann states, "Creating, defining and maintaining your brand and its message may be the most important 'product' you ever develop."
"This is a unique track for the AES convention, and we've made it that much more interesting this year with the inclusion of the product branding seminar," states Dan Foley. "The overarching theme is all about product development, but this year it has a timely focus on performance measurement, coming as it does at the same time that the CALM Act [Federal legislation that tightly regulates the relative level of broadcast commercials] takes effect.
"But the inclusion of the product branding presentation is completely new, never before done at an AES convention. So we're balancing our technical presentations with this one that really brings out the importance of properly presenting new products to the market. I believe this shows how the AES convention continues to evolve and adapt to new realities as the industry changes."
Confirmed sponsors for the Product Design Track include THAT Corporation Audio Technology and Audio Precision.
(Jim Evans)
