Robe Road Show in South Africa

The Robe ROBIN Road Show in South Africa consisted of three events staged in Johannesburg (at the University of Johannesburg Theatre), Cape Town (the Baxter Theatre), and Durban (The Natal Playhouse Company), coordinated by Robe's Johannesburg based South African distributor, DWR. Over 60 people attended in Durban, over 160 in Johannesburg, and another 80 plus in Cape Town.

Says DWR's Duncan Riley, "We expected a keen take up, but the actual turnout and the intensity of interest still took us by surprise. People stayed a long time at the demos, chatted to everyone on our team and also amongst themselves, while others who had to leave returned for more"

Robe's managing director, Josef Valchar, and sales director, Harry von den Stemmen, joined the DWR team of Duncan Riley, Nic Britz, Dave Whitehouse, Dan Riley, and Nicolet Britz. Says Valchar, "South Africa has consistently been one of our most successful markets and DWR is doing a fantastic job in promoting our brand, which was also reflected in the success of the road shows. It was great to be there and see for ourselves just how much of a buzz surrounds the Robin range."

The focus was on the usual array of road show products, including the Robin 300 and 300 Spot, Wash, and Beam fixtures and legendary LEDWash 600, which as expected, stole the limelight. Also showcased and attracting plenty of attention were the CitySkape Xtreme, CitySkape 48 LED wash lights, the DigitalSpot 3000DT, and the LEDForce 7s and 18s.

The Robe and DWR teams were joined by Michael "Quincey" Strathman from MA Lighting in Germany, who demonstrated the latest grandMA2 control technology on all the road show events (DWR is also an MA distributor).

In Johannesburg, the lighting department of SABC, the national broadcaster, was among the first group of a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, along with venues including the Silverstar Casino, the Johannesburg Civic Theatre, Lyric Theatre, Market Theatre, several architectural lighting designers -- and the first four-legged attendee ever at a Robe road show - Toby, a golden retriever currently training to be an actor in one of the UJ theatre's forthcoming productions.

The road show format offers the space for run-throughs all day, giving an overview of all the featured products and the chance to speak to people on an individual basis - with less of a presentation and more of a dialogue vibe.

Harry von den Stemmen comments, "Apart from the interest in the products, it was a great pleasure to hear numerous comments from DWR customers who took the time to tell us how amazing DWR are as a supplier and technical service company. It was clear from all their reactions and the general atmosphere of the events that the company has many exceptional relationships and is held in the highest regard."

In Cape Town, two DWR clients even walked in with orders already in their hands. SK Sound's Alan Baker bought six LEDWash 600s, eight CitySkape Xtremes, and Robin 600 Spots, which he collected from the venue at the end of the road show.

It was the first chance most had had to see the LEDWash 600 first hand, and all were blown away by its smooth color mixing, 15 - 60 degree zoom and ability to produce proper whites at different color temperatures.

In the course of the week, DWR received a container with its first batch of 100 LEDWash 600s in South Africa -- all of which are already sold. Among the first takers in the country are the Johannesburg rental company MGG Productions, which has purchased 24, and Black Coffee, from Durban, which has taken 12. This is in addition to The State National Theatre in Johannesburg, DWR's first ever LEDWash 600 customer; the head of lighting, Simon King took delivery of 16 fixtures in January.