According to David Cooper, recently appointed director of sales and marketing for Midas and Klark Teknik, the event was a thoroughly worthwhile exercise, and appreciated by invitees and hosts alike. "With the possible exception of the products themselves, our distributor network is the most important tool of our trade, so it's important both for us and for them that our communication channels remain strong ... Not only was it enormously valuable for our customers in terms of what they learned about new products and future company direction, but fantastic for us in the amount of good and useful feedback we received from our distributors."
The Gala Awards night included a total of 11 awards given for distribution achievements across both brands. For Midas, Distributor of the Year went to EVI Audio France, while AVAB-CAC in Norway and EVI Audio Japan carried off the accolades for Best European Distributor and Best ROW distributor respectively. Best New Distributor went to Sound Communications Ltd in Ireland, and the well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award went to the inimitable Stefano Cantadori of Audiolink in Italy. For Klark Teknik, Distributor of the Year went to Telex USA while Intersonic in Sweden and Telex Singapore took Best European and Best ROW Distributors. The recognition for Best New Distributor went to Electric Audio in the Netherlands, while the Lifetime Achievement Award for Klark Teknik went to husband and wife team, Henry and Yvonne Spong of Libor in Brazil. Auprosa in Spain were also delighted to be recognized as Distributor of the Year for both Midas and Klark Teknik.
Managing director John Oakley commented: "I don't think I have ever attended or organized a distributor meeting that has been as well received," he said. "We have been inundated with letters and emails praising the content, the presentation and the organization of the event. It's been a great experience for me to witness first hand the incredibly strong relationships we have built up with our distributors over the years and to appreciate the esteem with which we are regarded in the marketplace. Without wishing to single anyone out in particular, Jarmo Rivas from Hedcom in Finland appeared to sum up most people's sentiments when he wrote: "I must thank you for the excellent and elegant arrangements for the KTG meeting. The content was performed with wit, humour and was informative at the same time. You have all pushed the threshold for excellence in distributor meetings many notches higher. Thank you all!'"
(Lee Baldock)
