NuVo will be the technology platform of the future...

NuVo will be the technology platform of the future for parent company Legrand’s audio divisions, Doug Fikse, president of Legrand’s Home Systems division, told us in a phone interview. The company’s OnQ brand is migrating away from directions it was heading in before Legrand bought NuVo Technologies last November and into platforms based on NuVo’s wireless audio technology and the “expertise NuVo has,” Fikse said. Legrand said Monday it’s combining its NuVo and On-Q brands under a single sales organization that will work with dealers and distributors across regional sales territories. “You have to ultimately make decisions on how to best serve your customer base with your sales team,” he said. No staff positions were cut in the move but NuVo’s existing independent manufacturer’s reps will be terminated at the end of the month, he said. Fikse said there was “a lot of overlap” between larger NuVo installers and the OnQ product line, and the move was an “efficiency” decision. On whether the combined sales force might lead to branding consolidation, Fikse said, Vantage retains a position at the luxury end of the custom installation market, and OnQ has been migrating more to the Legrand brand. It’s possible that long term the company might consolidate the brands within Legrand, but brand positioning, particularly in international markets, would be a challenge at this time, he said. “Legrand is not known to consumers,” Fikse said, “so it may not make sense at all down the road to do anything different from the way NuVo is being handled now,” he said.