NEUES POS PROJEKT FÜR SENNHEISER ELECTRONIC

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05.11.2021

Interview with Alexander Häberlin, Notation Creative Consulting AG

The design agency Notation Creative Consulting AG was founded in 2020 as a spin-off of Sennheiser Electronic. It currently employs 20 people.

The development of the display programme for the Audiophile product line is Notation Creative’s first POS project for Sennheiser as an independent design agency. Following the conception and design stages, the project was implemented together with Displaysolutions.

In an interview with Alexander Häberlin, Head of Account Management at Notation Creative, we discover more about the challenges, market developments and why premium materials play such an important role in this area.

Hello, Mr Häberlin. We are very happy that you have agreed to be interviewed by Displaysolutions. Let us get straight to the first question:
What were the biggest hurdles at the beginning of the start-up, and how did you overcome them?

We were already a well-established team at Sennheiser and have fine-tuned and constantly optimised our activities, the related processes and tools over the last 10 years. The engine had been built and perfectly oiled. Now that we are an independent agency, we had to reposition ourselves as a service provider, and this came with some challenges. Some of these included the rapidly growing team in the time of COVID-19, setting up the necessary software to be able to map our processes, and the change from in-house design management to being a service provider. As for the team, we are very lucky to have found new talents who are all doing a fantastic job. Thanks to regular digital and, now, more and more physical exchanges and an efficient onboarding process, we were able to integrate them quickly into the team.

What is Notation Creative’s area of expertise, and what services do you offer?

We help our customers translate complex, often very technical products and services into emotionally engaging and unique solutions and brands. We believe that the product must be the hero of the brand and the ultimate proof of all brand promises. We have a multicultural team of strategists, industrial designers, and UI/UX and brand designers to deliver on these promises.

As a long-time employee of the former Sennheiser design department, you know a lot about audio technology for the consumer market. Where do you see this market going?

I believe that many of the big players in the market have now realised that audio will be one of the most important interfaces for our equipment in the future. Once all the voice recognition solutions and assistants have reached a certain level, the appropriate product to transmit information into my ear will become indispensable. Sound quality will continue to play an important role, but the key to success will be the perfect experience that customers have when interacting with the product.

What distinguishes the audiophile products for which these audiophile displays were designed?

These are products for customers for whom the listening experience is all about the sound. They want the absolute best sound experience, and to get it, they are willing to sacrifice many features and often pay a high price. All elements and details of the product are secondary to the sound quality. High-quality materials are used, which are usually not found in ordinary audio products. No Bluetooth, no noise cancelling and no Alexa. It is this clear focus that makes the product easy to understand and, at the same time, desirable.

The materials (solid oak, metal) for the audiophile displays were chosen deliberately for their very high quality. How do these materials fare in the market?

The audiophile products are real works of art, which is why we need a simple but high-quality “stage” to showcase them. We specifically opted for materials such as solid oak and metal, forgoing screens, plastic and lighting. As we have developed a very robust and simple solution, it is easy to set up in the market and also very durable and popular in the different markets.

You have now decided to implement the displays for the audiophile products with Displaysolutions. What made you choose Displaysolutions? Did someone recommend Displaysolutions to you?

Even back in the days at Sennheiser, we worked with Displaysolutions a lot. What piqued our interest at the time was the proximity factor, although Displaysolutions still maintains a strong supplier network in a wide range of countries.

How has the cooperation with Displaysolutions been? Would you recommend Displaysolutions AG to others? What particularly convinced you?

We now work very closely with Displaysolutions. They have extensive know-how and the right partners for a wide range of purposes. Enquiries are processed quickly, and delivery dates are met. I regularly recommend Displaysolutions to others.

Thank you very much, Mr Häberlin, for your candid and honest answers. We would like to thank you very much for the enjoyable conversation and wish you and Notation Creative the very best of success in the future!

In addition to the audiophile programme, Displaysolutions has completed many other display projects for Sennheiser on a large scale and delivered them worldwide. Displaysolutions also developed and produced the electronic components (circuit boards) in addition to the displays.