Hauppauge, N.Y. – Audiovox Corp. expanded its marketing team to better accommodate the new brands it has acquired, including RCA A/V products.
The acquisition of brands over the past several years “has necessitated an increase in the company’s focus on brand management, with a particular emphasis on developing a brand strategy and fashioning a consistent family look …for our products,” said Tom Malone, president of Audiovox Electronics Corp.
“In addition,” said Malone, “Some of the new distribution channels that these acquisitions have brought require a greater measure of market intelligence and analytics.”
Jean-Jaques L’Henaff has been promoted to the new post of VP strategic design and innovation for consumer products. He will develop consumer brand strategies as well as oversee product design. L’Henaff’s former positions include VP corporate design at Terk Electronics.
Also from Terk originally, Bill Cowles has been promoted to industrial design manager.
Two new positions have also been added in the marketing department to help accommodate the new brands. Ed Horst, who joined Audiovox as part of the RCA Audio/Video acquisition, will oversee consumer electronics market strategy. Jonathan Frank, who just joined Audiovox from Panasonic, will be responsible for mobile electronics market strategy, said Audiovox.
Separately, Jason Lent joined Audiovox as business manager of the consumer electronics group.
In another announcement today, Audiovox, under the Jensen brand, debuted one of the first add-on screens for an in-dash car A/V receiver that can work with head units from different brands.
The “second screen option” can clip on to the headrest of a vehicle to add rear seat TV to an in-dash car video receiver. It works with any in-dash monitor/DVD receiver that has “multi-zone” capability, or the ability to send radio, as an example, to the front seat, but send video to the rear seat. Many leading brands offer this feature.
The new Jensen 7-inch add-on monitor, model MZ 7TFT is a solution for “for leased vehicle applications where a consumer might not want a permanent mounting option,” said Malone.
When used with certain Jensen head units, the user can control the second screen for modes such as AM/FM, DVD, CD, auxiliary, iPod, gaming systems, satellite radio and navigation by the in-dash unit’s touch screen
The MZ 7TFT has two A/V inputs including a front panel input for an iPod or other media player and it has a suggested retail price of $249.
