Martin Professional

David Caulfield

installation

martin professional

services, installation, october 2006, COMMENTS

A long running, wholly owned subsidiary of a 19-year-old Danish parent company, over the years Martin Professional UK has justly developed a reputation for innovation, product quality and high service standards. Launched by Danish entrepreneur Peter Johansson in 1987, Martin is now the world’s largest producer and distributor of computer controlled lighting, active in over 90 countries and employing approximately 1,000 people worldwide.

After years of growth, the ‘00s saw business level off slightly, with even the historically buoyant UK operation feeling the pinch - something Martin management attributed to a loss of the company’s typically razor sharp focus. Their response was to embark on an analysis of every aspect of the business - the outcome of which in the UK has been a trebling of sales in the ‘commercial’ segment over the last three years as their new, more strategic, targeting of the club market in particular has started to pay off.

“The impact on the business was spectacular,” confirms UK MD David Caulfield, whose team were tasked with identifying and strengthening relationships with the country’s top ten installation companies as part of the strategy. “It was really important that they were aware of all of our products, and had access to the Martin support structure - which we’re very proud of and which really differentiates Martin Professional from many of our competitors.”

The result of this focus was more installations in more venues across the UK - including at flagship projects such Luminar’s massive Oceanas, which make use of two different designs in its club rooms and additional lighting in the bars. The team’s hard work was exemplified by Clive Bailey, named “Subsidiary Sales Rep of the Year” for 2005 after a phenomenally successful year.

This placement of fixtures into bars has been a particular growth area for Martin - reflecting the number of late licensed, drink-led venues that are now offering extra entertainment in a bid to keep customers from moving on to clubs. They have also noticed that most ubiquitous of contemporary lighting trends - the use of LEDS - coming in to play.

“It depends who you talk to,” says David, “but 50% is commonly mentioned as the value of the installation being spent on LED.” This recognition has obviously spurred the company into looking at own brand LED products that would, along with Martin’s Jem smoke machine and Mach speaker brands, allow the company to provide a package of products to club owners.

“Lighting is fashion and you have to be ahead of the game,” says David about the move. “But we were reluctant to enter the LED market too rapidly. We wanted to wait until the quality of LEDs had reached a certain level before we started using them. One of the defining characteristics of Martin products is their quality of colour and we’re now confident that the colour output of LEDs compares favourably to the output of our moving head products.”

Happy with the components available to them, Martin’s 60 strong R&D team got to work, a process resulting in two new products: the Stagebar 54 and the LUCI 40 LED curtain. Stagebar 54 is a bright, high efficiency LED pixel bar with RGB color mixing plus amber and ‘true’ white for a broader color spectrum, and greater range of pastel shades than other LED lights in its class. Stagebar 54 also features high speed video capability with integrated high quality fans ensuring outstanding heat management. The LUCI 40 LED Curtain is a bright semi-transparent LED wall of light, offering RGB color illumination with color calibration capability. The products are the first two in what will ultimately be a complete range. At the PLASA show, which was as usual thronging with visitors, interest was tangible.

“People are getting much more aware of the technology now,” says David. “Most operators have a better understanding of how the products work, and awareness of maintenance issues has become particularly acute, I think in part because so many operators have had their fingers burnt after opting for low cost, imported products from companies that don’t offer the build quality or after sales support that we do. In contrast, Martin aims for 100% quality, from R&D through production, to after sales support. Since our analysis of the business three years ago quality has gone through the roof. The situation now is very good in terms of product, parts and processes. Martin Professional is a really positive place to be.”

From: October 2006 Issue

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