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Avid says No to NAB 2008
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I both agree some and disagree some with my venerable and esteemed friend, Walter.
I agree that Avid’s reputation as a stodgy and smug company with an attitude has hurt it. I can’t count the number of times that I have called people at Avid only to realize that Jimmy Buffett was right when he wrote the song, “If the phone doesn’t ring, it’s me.”
But just as Autodesk, Adobe and others have been through major restructurings, so has Avid and it was one that used a fairly wide and large broom. ;o)
When we called Avid for an interview with Graham Sharp yesterday, we had it in minutes. That’s never happened before.
But I disagree when simplifying purchases down to making up one’s mind on what can be gleaned from a showfloor.
Why?
I have been to many deep all day product roadshows, some that have lasted for two to four days. With a tool like an Avid, I have probably five or six days of intense all-day seminars digging into the features and I am far from knowledgeable about all that’s there. I doubt that I have covered a third of what makes an Avid, an Avid.
But what I learned on a showfloor sitting in my seat for 10 to 20 minutes? Not much.
Apple plays well at NAB. Adobe’s presentation from all I heard, was a far second to Apple’s “wow, the crowd” approach. Avid? Well, let’s be nice and ask did they even have a big press event last year?
😉
Regardless of the outcome of Avid’s decision, companies like Sony have left Comdex, a show that was one of the pivotal shows for them. In doing so, they set the stage for many others to follow their lead.
The tradeshow industry is in a world of hurt, far more than Avid.
Already gone are a long list of shows like Showbiz Expo (that had been a Hollywood cornerstone for years and years), gone also are the NY DV Show and LA DV Show, Videomaker gave up their show a few years back, the DVD Tech Expo is gone, DV Expo is a 20% to 25% of what it once was at its peak, Siggraph continues to get smaller and smaller each year, NAB is shrinking in both size and importance, and the list could go on and on…
Whether Avid has made a brilliant move or has just shot itself in the head, remains to be seen. But the fact remains that they have $2 million in a war chest to play the kinds of strategies that Graham Sharp played in Europe to remarkable success and profit — all while avoiding IBC.
Tradeshows are important but they are not indespensible — nor in this day of the internet are they indestructible.
Just watching the paradigms shift again.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
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[Ron Lindeboom] “Already gone are a long list of shows like Showbiz Expo (that had been a Hollywood cornerstone for years and years), gone also are the NY DV Show and LA DV Show, Videomaker gave up their show a few years back, the DVD Tech Expo is gone, DV Expo is a 20% to 25% of what it once was at its peak, Siggraph continues to get smaller and smaller each year, NAB is shrinking in both size and importance, and the list could go on and on…”
I personally think all of these other shows realized that there’s really no need for any other trade show than NAB in the States. I also believe most of the companies who were on the show floors realized this too.
NAB will most definitely shrink in size, but it is the one show that “if I can only go to one show this year” it’s going to be NAB. There’s nothing else like it (except IBC) where you can truly see just about everything in one location.
For a major company to simply pull up stakes and say “See we saved $2 million!” just tells me they spent way too much money on their booth all these years. The NAB show floor is not about having the largest booth and (in Avid’s case) the loudest booth. It’s about having “boots on the ground” so the end customer can put a face to a company.
A smarter marketing plan would have been to scale back the footprint to something more modest while also running a hospitality suite for their larger clients.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
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[Hellena] “I sincerely hope that the number of people on a stand is not what makes you commit to a product – but the product itself.”
That’s not what I said – although I expected a certain amount of AVID/FCP backlash from my comments. I said I knew I had made the right decision (some time earlier) when I saw the levels of interest for the two products. I will not debate the pros and cons of the systems here, but at the end of the day, that’s what they are – systems.
What any product line needs to survive is the support of talented people – Apple have made great inroads to the ‘big’ work because they gave people an affordable start, and therefore created a large talent pool, which is growing exponentially. This is now paying dividends in broadcast, and may hurt Avid more and more in these core ‘high-end’ markets they still control. it took Avid far to long to see the danger – I hope (sincerely) they can reverse the trend.
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[Ben Holmes] “What any product line needs to survive is the support of talented people – Apple have made great inroads to the ‘big’ work because they gave people an affordable start, and therefore created a large talent pool, which is growing exponentially.”
You hit it right on the head Ben. Apple has allowed artists, like myself, to have very high end tools at a very affordable price. The $25,000 application formerly known as Final Touch 2K now rolled into Studio 2 as “Color” is a great example.
At the end of the day, Producers are looking for quality talent. They honestly don’t care what tool I’m using, all they know is that we are producing high quality work that is airing on national HD networks for a fraction of what it costs to go to the “big Avid shop” in town. We now have three HD suites pretty much booked out through April and I’ve outfitted all three of them for less than a single high end Avid HD system would cost me.
Final Cut Studio and Adobe CS3 allow artists to provide high quality work without having to pay Avid prices and support contracts. Eventually that catches up to a company.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR
The new Color Training DVD now available from the Creative Cow! -
Ron, I was in the Trade Show Business for years – mostly for automotive clients (American and Japanese) – the number one thing attendees remember months AFTER the show is not the million dollar exhibit, but a person they met. There are plenty of studies that confirm that fact.
Show producers and exhibit builders would like to keep that a secret. They want to sell big spaces with big exhibits.
Then for the obvious – there’s a virtual trade show going on all the time, right here on the internet.
So I think Avid’s decision is a solid one as long as their people are out and actually meeting people. If they don’t follow up on that…they will lose even more market share. Show me that you care about me and my business and I’ll listen – because you’re listening.
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Comparing an online forum’s traffic to NAB’s traffic (and it’s subsequent relevance to Avid) was kind of a strange comparison and I’m not sure what point it really galvanized.
That Avid can focus it’s resources better?
By preaching to the faithful? The “faithful” is one by one getting replaced by Apple savvy kids. The kinda kids that were at Apple’s booth in LEGION at the last NAB.
I’ve been to NAB TWICE in my life…once in 1997 and once in 2007.
The decade long break was a excellent chance to see very clearly how much our industry has changed.
I’m not going to get into what’s better, FCP or AVID, because that’s really a moot point.
What I saw at NAB was a pep rally for Apple…THOUSANDS of guys younger than me (I’m 32) crowded around the Apple booth salivating…interested….knowledgeable….wanting aboard FCP.
Avid? Not so much.
Much like how Toyota and Honda planted the seed thirty+ years ago amongst young and thrifty Americans that their vehicles were cheap, good and reliable, Apple has done the same thing. It’s a branding juggernaut that young people identify with and are GROWING UP WITH.
Avid? Not so much.
Say what you will about young editors, roll your eyes at the perceived lack of “pro” work FCP can handle or keep convincing yourself that the industry will stay the way it is forever, but fact is, the young guys crowding around FCP’s booth last year are THE FUTURE and arguably the PRESENT.
Avid is taking YET ANOTHER step to remove themselves from the future and dig themselves deeper into the ESTABLISHED market that thinks Avid can do know wrong and would never fathom FCP as an alternate. That crowd is going the way of the dinosaur wether we like it or not.
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Rather than add comment snippets I’ll post this comment.
I’m one of those small prod/post folks who can’t shut my business to go to NAB
YET I think trade shows are critical (and wish there were more in NYC).Road Shows
Road shows are great IF you know about them. Some of them are NOT well publicized.
Often they happen on the ONE DAY you’re booked. Trades are across several days.
Often one is shut out of the LIMITED SEATING at a Road Show.Internet
Marketing info on the internet is often TOO VAGUE.
Often there’s a lot of misinformation, not coming from the manufacturer.Trade Shows
One often sees products one DOES NOT KNOW ABOUT.
It’s one stop shopping. One does not have to see EVERYTHING. One can target the vendors one needs to talk to.
NOTHING replaces the chance to say, “Can you SHOW me what you mean when you say your product does this?”NYC just had a GREAT SMALL TRADE SHOW. NY ProTech Expo.
https://www.protechexpo.com/
It was production focused. People got to see presentation on the Sony F23, RED, Sony EX1 amongst others. Panasonic P2 gear was also well represented. Sony people did their presentations. The Rental and Sales VARs had the gear to test. BTW rather than using the overpriced Javitz Center or some hotel, they had it at Steiner Studio just outside of Manhattan (Brooklyn Navy Yard).
https://www.steinerstudios.com/projectsummary.htmlI think the above is the IDEAL “New” model for a trade show. It’s focused on a specific aspect of the business with “like/competitive” products so one can hear presentations from the manufacturers and then talk to the companies/VARs that actually make the sales.
I understand that big companies like Avid find that my small purchases mean so little to invest marketing to me. BUT small targeted local trade shows, away from the overpriced “traditional” (expensive) trade show venues SHOULD BE a new and viable way to market to businesses like mine.
Obviously Sony found it worthwhile to market the F23 (and SR1 and HDCAM SR) as well as XDCAM HD to me and the VARs who can make the sales or rentals where there and ready to cash in . . . in a location that probably didn’t break their banks. That’s a sensible Trade Show.
BTW the COW didn’t have it listed in their Events Section sadly (NY Pro Tech Expo marketed the show through the many local user groups and the VARs marketed it as well). Maybe this is the kind of show COW SHOULD be digging to find out about (Or maybe such trade show sponsors need to know about the COW).
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Cheers to Proper.
Avid is chasing after the shrinking “big facility” market IMHO whereas Apple pursues smaller market which can be quite high end and, in some cases, grow into much bigger facilities. I think Adobe has learned from Apple and are repositioning in that direction too.
Avid’s strategy will keep them afloat as they make the BIG sales to their targeted market but I’m not sure that’s a great long term strategy. Of Course, maybe they feel being a high end niche product is way to long term survival. I’d consider that a risky business model.
BTW, Apple has had its issues with big trade shows too. Not all trade shows are worth saving/attending. But rather than abandon one looks for a new way to reach a broadly targeted product. Local Apple VARs are always in attendance at the several small industry trade shows in NYC.
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Nice post, Craig.
I agree that the model of the highly focused, efficient and local show with hands-on tactile presentation is one of the ways that the paradigm is being shifted.
Apple does this kind of thing well at NAB, precisely because their user base is already familiar with the user experience and interface principles. It is easy to present basics. But as the new Final Cut 6 Bugs article in the COW Library attests, you won’t catch all the snafus and gotchas — nor discern all the intricacies of a highly complex media managed, file shared, metasync’d system like a high-end Avid — on a show floor.
It’s still a crap shoot.
Apple showed Logic this way at NAB a couple shows or so ago. But Logic is tougher to communicate than the wow and razzle dazzle of showing off a new Motion or Color. Most of the people that came to experience Logic just sat there with their eyes glazed. So, this year at NAB, no Logic.
But targeted at the right market, in the right setting, a tool like Logic is going to be a real success.
In its complexity and left-brained multi-faceted dryness of features that have to be grasped and understood, Avid finds itself with a “I’m here for my first look” presentation hurdle much like Logic. It’s a tougher “show” than say FC Studio, wherein Apple races through features and presents the “mountain-tops.” But an Avid requires more the kind of presentation that you are talking about, as much of what makes an Avid an Avid is found in the nuance and refinement.
I have always said that an artist understands that it takes 10% of the time to do the first 90% of the job, and 90% of the time to get the last 10% of the refinement done. Refinement takes time and while some argue that Avid needs a radical update, their core market argues that the refinement of stability is worth the premium and they are not arguing for a radical update that throws out the interface in the way that I have to relearn Photoshop everytime a new version comes out — ggrrrr.
Avid’s greatest success has been that their market expects something more than a two-page bug list when they buy an upgrade or a system.
Walter does great work but as a smaller shop, he has different needs and requirements than someone like CBS New York or PBS’s flagship WGBH.
And as Randall Raymond (Raymond Motion Pictures) stated, as long as Avid can get their people out there meeting and interacting with their customers, they stand a great chance of being successful.
But only time will tell how the story plays out.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
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[Craig Seeman] “Avid’s strategy will keep them afloat as they make the BIG sales to their targeted market but I’m not sure that’s a great long term strategy.”
Mercedes Benz and Lexus would argue that.
You do not need to have all the mass market to be successful, you need to play your niche well.
Last year, about 400 major motion pictures were released and only a couple or so were edited in Final Cut.
Most all of the major networks around the world use Avid. A few use something else, whether it be Final Cut, Edius, Liquid (yes, there are some), etc. But most of the majors use Avid.
So like a Chevy, Final Cut makes the rounds of the mass market but you see far fewer Mercedes and Lexus’s on the road. Yet all three companies have successful business models and any one of the cars will get you from Point A to Point B.
Avid is looking at itself and seeing what it does well and doesn’t do well.
Its story does not play well on the show floor of NAB and throwing $2 million at it does not make great sense when NAB is clearly becoming a show for independent operators, whose numbers now make up a large part of the audience — especially in the South Hall.
I think that Avid stands every bit as good a chance of succeeding as they do of failing in this endeavor. If they play their hand well, they will continue to serve a client base that has come to count on them. If they don’t play it well, they will languish into obscurity as a footnote in the history of media production. The ball is in their court and I, like many, will look forward to seeing just how well they play their game.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
creativecow.net
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