Polk Audio is testing the company store model with...

Polk Audio is testing the company store model with a 295-square-foot kiosk at the Southwest Airlines terminal at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Al Ballard, vice president of marketing, told us at CEDIA Expo last week. It’s a new initiative for the company that he called a “marketing workshop” to create awareness about the Polk brand and personal audio products among consumers it might not ordinarily reach. The kiosk, due to open at the end of September or early October, will be manned by a Polk employee who will demo products including headphones and home and personal audio systems, Ballard said. Polk chose BWI because it’s the hometown airport for the Baltimore-based company and the Southwest terminal sees 15 million passengers a year, Ballard says. The “ideas laboratory” will give the company a chance to try out marketing ideas and promotions, Ballard said. Most products sold at the kiosk will be Polk-branded, although a smattering of products from sister loudspeaker company Definitive Technology and sister brands under the Directed group of automotive products could be sold there as well, he said. Regarding the cost of operating a retail kiosk through landlord AirMall USA, which also manages retail operations at airports in Boston, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, Ballard said, “It’s not cheap.” On whether Polk plans to roll out the kiosks nationally, Ballard said, “Who knows? We'll see how it goes.”