A tale of two tours
Pulse Cinemas took the innovative step of providing guided tours around some of the top brands exhibiting at ISE 2019 from the distributor’s family of high- performance products and services. EI tagged along.
Our aim this year was to make the show digestible for visitors ensuring they got real value out of the trip. Our mission is to provide added value in everything that we do, this ambition extends to every aspect of our business, including large scale events such as ISE, which can be a chore for installers to arrange
So much hard work and planning went into the tours, it was amazing to see the positive response
Many of the tours were ably hosted by Internal Sales Manager, Simon Schino. “So much hard work and planning went into the tours, it was amazing to see the positive response,” says Simon.
He continues, “The feedback from the brands was extremely positive, they were delighted with the footfall and relevance of the audience. The tours are a great way of reaching out to a number of dealers in one session. We keep the groups manageable, so they are not too large,and find that groups of installers often get more out of theexperience than going around the show on their own.
“Seeing this initiative grow has been great, multipletimes at the show we filled the Paradigm and Anthemcinema demo for over an hour and the demos are just a great way of showing off just how good the products are.”
The Pulse team arranged for groups of installers to sign up to two different tours taking place over the course of the show, taking in key information and demonstrationsinvolving brands such as Paradigm, Anthem,Kaleidescape, Digital Projection, Screen Research, FortressSeating, Audio Control and StormAudio.
A particular highlight for EI was sitting in on the homecinema demo which featured Paradigm speakers, Anthem amplification and control, the NERO 4 SIM2 projector (Pulse Cinemas’ most recent brand addition) all taking part in a full-on Dolby Atmos cinema demo. The room, tweaked via ARC Anthem calibration, delivered a fantastic backdrop for all thekit to sing and underlined the quality of the Pulse line-up.
The tours were a great chance to learn more about the brands and products that make up the Pulse family
Appropriately enough, the first clip was from animated vocal competition movie Sing! which really showed off the system’s ability to deliver all the complex edges of the music. In the clip used where shy elephant Meena comes out of her skin there are some punchy trumpets sounds that some speakers muddy and lose their grip on, not so here, clear as a bell. A busy scene from Ready PlayerOne, was despatched with equal aplomb. This title is so frenetic, it can easily become tedious in the wrong hands as the viewer struggles to keep up with what is going on, Sim2 delivered the images superbly and the whole systemwas in total unison. The final clip was from the Queen biog Bohemian Rhapsody as Queen take to the stage at Live Aid. Emotion is the key in this clip, so the images and especially the music have to fly here. Audio was particularlystrong in this clip, the distinctive sound of Brian May’s guitar, the noise of the crowed are all there with good surround complimenting a big fat front sound stage.
Elsewhere at the show, on the Alcons stand, there was a chance to hear just how good StormAudio is whendelivering power and precision into a cinema. One of the few demos to match the Paradign/Anthem set up, StormAudio was able to show how it can match theperformance of even the best commercial cinemas.
Installers were impressed with the effort, with thereaction from Luke Newland of New Land Solutions beingtypical. Luke says, “Pulse did a fantastic job at ISE this year,I normally find it difficult to schedule demos and meetingswhen visiting for just a single day, but Kapes and the teamwere mega efficient, and the tour gave detailed snapshotsof the new products and updates without wasting timewhich was perfect for me and the NLS team.
“The Pulse party was also a highlight, this year we visited Holland with our partners, and they all commented on how incredibly welcome they felt and how friendly thewhole team are. High five and a big thank you!”
Luke is indeed correct, the Pulse party was a big hit. Spending all day at a trade show can generate quite a hunger and thirst. The food inside these venues can be pretty ordinary, so it’s a big plus if a supplier goes out
of its way to provide something special at the end of a long day.
Thankfully that is exactly what Pulse Cinemas did, taking over the excellent De Biertuin Prinsengracht, a specialist in craft beers, spit-roasted chicken, burgers and spare ribs. The food, beers and service were all top notch.
