12VOLT CENTRAL STUDIOS (01.29.2020) – It is still winter and cold across the U.S. However, the 2020 marine season is heating up in convention centers across the U.S. In recent weeks four proactive retailers spotlighted below set up booths in conventions centers: VIP AUTOSPORTS in Cleveland, Jackie Cooper Electronics in Oklahoma City OK, ABF Creations in Minneapolis plus sister companies Proline Car Stereo and Brooklyn Car Audio in New York City.

VIP AUTOWORKS Car & Marine set up at the Cleveland Boat Show and Fishing Expo on Wednesday January15th just 24 miles from the company’s Mentor OH store. Chris Simpson related to 12voltnews.com “We had a great 10×10 corner booth that was perfect for a table, our marine display and the Wet Sounds cooler. The Wet Sounds SHIVR-55 cooler really grabbed attention. We closed the shop during the days of the show but in the long run we will generate weeks worth of business from visibility and contacts from the show. While at the show we made contacts with boating enthusiasts plus local marinas and boat dealers. The Saturday following the show in fact I was out looking at a big boat job.”

Jackie Cooper Electronics was on site at the OKC Boat/RV/Outdoor Show at the State Fair Park in Oklahoma City January 24th-26th. Donnie Chaffin stated “This was our 4th year to have a booth at the event. Once again we generated a ton of leads and the phone was ringing on Monday morning following the event. Attendees at the show get excited and start thinking about the boating season. Many will bring their boats to the store from storage to prepare to hit the lake. For us that is great because when the season kicks in we are slammed with marine work. Also at the show we see customers who want to upgrade an installation we may have done previously. Some of these boat jobs can run $6000 or more.”

Jackie Cooper’s Jill Splitt also created a social media campaign offering a Kenwood Marine System giveaway for attendees stopping at the booth to register during the show.

ABF Creations, Excelsior MN, had a booth at the Minneapolis Boat Show the weekend of January 24th. Owner Adam Frickie commented “The Minneapolis Boat Show gets boating enthusiast in the boat mode to start thinking about getting the boating season kicked off. We had a 10×10 that was just right for our display counter and JL Audio Marine display. In addition to marine audio, and some car audio, we do a lot of marine flooring and upholstery. Our booth at the show lets attendees know the broad selection of services we offer to boaters. We generated a ton of leads that we will be following up on while it was 18 degrees outside the day after the show.”

Frickie has been installing electronics for over 20 years and has owned his business for the last 9 years. Today his business is marine focused.
Proline Car Stereo and Brooklyn Car Audio exhibited at the New York Boat Show, January 22nd-26th for the 7th year in a row at the famous Javits Convention Center. Will Sullivan and Shef Sadik, along with staff from both stores, worked with a steady stream of attendees throughout the 5 days of the show. Sullivan stated “There were thousands of people at the show every day and we set records for business generated at the show. We have days and weeks ahead to follow up on leads too. JL Audio Marine is strong at our stores and area JL Audio representative Kevin Stelling did a terrific job at the show.”

In the case of VIP AUTOWORKS, Jackie Cooper Electronics and ABF Creations exhibiting at a local boat show can be an out of pocket expense of $1000-$1500. Employees time and extras can add to the total expense. But, if 3 or 4 days at a show can bring in $20,000. in sales over the next several weeks that is a great ROI. 

Cigarettes are $14. a pack in New York… so the New York Boat Show was certainly a large investment. That said, with record sales, the ROI for Proline Car Stereo and Brooklyn Car Audio was still very substantial!

As an industry let’s make some waves in 2020.

MARIETTA, GA (01.28.2020) – AIS has just announced the introduction of their new line of automotive lighting solutions. AIS released five different series of headlight bulbs and mini-bulbs that are specifically designed with direct fitment and performance in mind.

Cris Sharp, the AIS National Sales Manager stated, “We are so confident in the quality of our lighting products, AIS is setting the highest industry standard with our warranties. The Pro-Series and Pro-Series Projectors have a lifetime warranty and the Tech-Series, Tech-Series Plus and Pro-Series Mini have a three year warranty when installed by an authorized dealer. We want the consumers to have safer, brighter headlights with performance significantly better than factory. And, at the same time, drive them to our authorized AIS dealers so they can reap profitable labor dollars.”

Since many of the vehicles today have CAN systems, all of the AIS headlight replacement bulbs are equipped with CAN decoding chips. These chips eliminate bulb failure, such as flickering and erratic

power fluctuations. The Tech-Series bulbs are targeted for vehicles that require a smaller space to be installed and they are 15% shorter than other LED headlight bulbs on the market. They also have been engineered not to interfere with radio reception. The brightest bulbs are the Pro-Series at an incredible 6000 lumens per bulb.

AIS not only offers an exact fitment for the bulbs, but they have a full line of installation accessories: DLR decoders, intelligent smart decoders, plug and play universal resistors, vehicle specific bulb locking rings.

AIS CEO, Kelley Vickers added,  “AIS products are not sold to internet retailers or sold on the internet, thereby allowing our valued network of nationwide dealers the most profitable line of safety and convenience products available today. In addition to providing the best and most innovative products, our number one goal is to protect the profit of our dealers and this is why they are fiercely loyal to the AIS brand.”

Check out the AIS website’s application guide to determine which lighting parts you need for each vehicle at www.aislights.com.

SHREVEPORT LA (01.25.20)  WTF…Win This Friday. The 12volt Spin-to-Win Wheel was created to bring an element of fun to the 12volt industry. Two months ago we celebrated the first anniversary of the weekly 12volt Spin-To-Win Wheel.

Spinning out a new winner each Friday a 12volt retailer can win a cool prize and top brands receive visibility across the marketplace.

12volt brands with a space on the 12volt Spin-To-Win Wheel include Kicker, Cadence, PowerBass, Sony, CRUX, DS18, SoundStream, AIS, Precision Power, JBL, Power Acoustik,Farenheit, Dynamat, Image Dynamics. SpellBrite, a manufacturer of in-store signage, also has a space. 12volt News $100. cash awards have spaces on the 12volt Spin-To-Wheel for a winning 12volt retailer.

Past winners of the 12volt Spin-To-Win include…Stereo & Video Center-Tyler TX, The Outlaw Garage-Franklin TN, Exotic Sounds-West Palm Beach FL, Endless Possibilities-Aurora IL., Go Auto Sound in Union City NJ, Al&Ed’s South Bay CA, No Limitz Car Audio in Upland CA, Neil’s Specialty-Eureka CA, Sturgess Customs-Lexington SC, Audio By Art-San Antonio TX, SMS Car Audio in Marreo LA and Sweet Wheelz in Mississauga Ontario Canada, Cartronics in Biscayne FL, The CarAudio Shop in St Louis MO, Exotic Sounds in West Palm Beach FL, High North Customs in Grand Prairie Alberta Canada and AMS Audio in Bakersfield CA, Team QRT in Abbeyville LA and California Sound in Fontana CA and Jackie Cooper Electronics, Oklahoma City OK, MARS Audio-Orlando FL, All American Audio in Nutley NJ, Proline Car Stereo in Brooklyn NY, Custom Shop Miami, Tunes and Tint in Lakeland FL, Mobile Concepts Inc in Mokena IL, Seismic Auto Sound in Concord CA, Brooklyn Car Audio in Brooklyn NY, Audio Solutions in Florence MS, Enhanced Customs in Largo FL, Rayco Auto Clinic, Audio Design in San Jose CA, Go Bass Mode in Florida, Avenue Sound in Freeport NY, Audio Plus in Riverview FL, Stereo Zone in Whittier CA, In-Phase Car Audio in Omaha NE, AutoLife Group, N&H Electronics, SK Customs, Land & Sea, The Audio One, NC Custom Shop,Tint World Orlando, Ricky Smith’s Audio, VIP Custom Woks, Mobile Audio Concepts, Audio Lad, Sound Sensations, Dave’s Stereo, Stereo Design, Badlands Customs, Custom Audio-Erie PA, Voltz Autosports-Bridgeport CT, Infinity Sound and Security-Kissimmee, Autosport Plus-Canton OH and the latest winner Stereo City Pros in Carmichael CA.  Congratulations to all.

Today let’s have some fun. The next spin of the 12volt Spin-to-Win Wheel is Friday, January 31st.
Want to enter for future spins? It’s easy – when making an Instagram post include the hashtag #12voltspin. A slip for your company will be added to the slips in the jar.

With 18 chances to WIN, the 12Volt Spin-To-Win Wheel is ready to shower a lucky weekly winner with one of the cool prizes.

Stay tuned to 12voltnews.com on the web and @12voltnews on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for 12volt Spin-To-Win winner announcements every Friday!

STILLWATER, OK (01.24.2020) – Kicker Marine Audio lives its “Go Overboard!” tagline as it joins Reef Runner Boats in the boat manufacturer’s third annual “Battle Breast Cancer Giveaway,” culminating at the Miami International Boat Show. At the show’s closing on Sunday, February 17, 2020, Reef Runner will draw an entry of one lucky donor for a 23’ Open center console to celebrate its annual fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, a non-profit and leader in the fight against breast cancer.

Reef Runner Boats President Donna Milo’s own brush with the disease provided the impetus to start the benefit. She is joined this year by Kicker Marine Audio and other prestigious marine sponsors like Evinrude, TACO Marine, Edson, SeaDek by Castaway Customs, Ocean Tamer and Center Consoles Only in the packaging of a highly enticing prize. Each sponsor has donated product and services to increase the value and overall design look of the new Reef Runner 230 Open.

Kicker Marine Audio National Brand Manager Jeremy Bale met Reef Runner’s V.P. Patrick Farres at the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show and the fundraising campaign struck a chord. Bale enlisted his company’s support to contribute a full sound system valued at $5,000 retail, complete with a lighted subwoofer, coaxials, amplifiers, service unit with remote and a lighting remote and receiver.

“We are pleased to support the efforts of Reef Runner Boats as so many of us have had our lives touched by cancer. We saw a great opportunity to add our expertise and products to this beautiful boat—built for a great cause,” commented Bales.

The campaign has raised over $25,000 over the past two years and to date $16,265 has been raised toward the $25,000 goal for the 2020 promotion and drawing. Tickets are available and donations can be made online at Reef Runner Boats website and at the Miami Boat Show, C-50 where the boat will be on display at the center of the Marine Stadium on Virginia Key. The winner will be drawn at 1 PM February 17 and need not be present to win.

For further information, contact Reef Runner at info@ReefRunnerBoats.com or KICKER Marine Audio via Marilyn DeMartini, md@prpower.biz. 954-649-4904.