D&M to Combine Denon, Boston Acoustics Under Single U.S. Team
D&M will combine Denon and Boston Acoustics in the U.S. under a single team Dec. 15 to “seamlessly integrate the sales and marketing operations of both brands,” the company said Thursday. Though the reorganization augurs “some reduction” in the D&M work force through the elimination of “duplicate positions,” the company would have made the moves even if there hadn’t been the economic downturn, Bob Weissburg, president of D&M Sales and Marketing, North America, told Consumer Electronics Daily.
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The reorganization represents “the first real move we're making to take advantage of the umbrella of all the brands” in the D&M arsenal, Weissburg said. D&M had weighed the action for some time, but the economic downturn “gave us the opportunity to do it sooner rather than later,” he said.
Denon and Boston Acoustics will come under the supervision of Joe Stinziano, senior vice president of sales and marketing for both brands, Weissburg said. Snell’s sales and marketing operations will be combined with those of McIntosh Lab under Steve Mulnick, director of domestic sales and marketing, he said. Phil Cohn, formerly senior vice president for Boston Acoustics and Snell, will take over responsibility for Marantz and Escient, he said. Paul Tamberelli will become national sales manager for Escient, reporting to Cohn, he said. Kevin Zarow will remain Marantz vice president for marketing and product development, he said.
Combining Denon and Boston Acoustics under one sales and marketing roof will enable those “noncompetitive” brands to feed off each other’s strengths, Weissburg said. As for combining Snell and McIntosh under a single team, that’s sure to help Snell, which suffers from “underdeveloped” distribution, he said. McIntosh sports “several hundred” high-quality retail storefronts, he said. Snell’s accounts number fewer than 100, he said.
Weissburg won’t deny that “business has been a challenge” during the current economic crisis, he said. But that’s because “the market is tracking down,” not because D&M is losing share, which actually is rising, he said. D&M exited Tweeter two years ago, so it was untouched by that chain’s liquidation, he said. D&M’s business is up at Circuit City, and D&M hopes the chain will emerge from Chapter 11 next year “as a stronger company,” he said.