Twenty398

RED has followed Avid and Apple in pulling out of the NAB show in Vegas this April, citing a lack of availability of working prototypes to demonstrate. According to CEO, Jim Jannard,

RED has decided to skip NAB 2009. We will hold our own RED DAY when we feel we are ready to present the new systems and when they are fully ready to showcase. Date and location will be announced in future.

A minor delay by a major part vendor will not mean much to the delivery schedules but would mean too many non-working prototypes at NAB… which we find unacceptable.

In other words, RED doesn’t want to come to NAB without substantially new product to show and prefers to focus resources and time on completing their already announced products. Personally, I’m a little sad to not see them there this year. As an early believer in RED it’s been a nice opportunity to check out their gear and chat with the folks who actually make it. Also, NAB arguably holds a greater significance for RED than some of the other companies who are leaving or have left the show, for a number of reasons:

Having a presence at the major electronics show of the year on the international stage is a good way to develop customer relationships and demonstrate a long-term commitment to the industry. Shows like NAB also present a key networking opportunity, not only business-to-business and business-to-customer, but also customer-to-customer.

There are likely to be a lot more customers to reach at NAB- when travel budgets can be justified by all the other vendors and contacts to be seen at once vs. their making a special trip only to check out RED. In this present economy, travel budgets are tighter than ever.

RED’s been going to NAB for only 3 years while the others have been fixtures for decades. Thus, the cachet companies like Avid and Apple are likely to earn at this point by going is relatively small in the scheme of things next to a newer player like RED.

RED’s not as diversified in other trade shows or in advertising and marketing as the others. Their primary publicity machine is in print articles, word of mouth and Reduser.net. There are no RED Stores in the world other than their main HQ, nor do they run TV or print ads like Avid, Apple or the other remaining camera companies.

RED’s also been closely associated with NAB. They made their initial debut at NAB in 2006 and showed the first working cameras and footage a year later at NAB 2007. 2008 became the opportunity to announce new hardware such as the Epic, Scarlet and RED-RAY drive. The show gives them a platform to present their case as the alternative to the other camera companies such as Sony, Panasonic, Thomson, Canon, JVC, etc.

Of course, RED’s never been a company to play by the rules or follow others’ leads. They have promised to hold a RED Day (presumably at their HQ in California), ‘when they are fully ready.’ As always, covering RED is covering the expected.

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