NEW APPLE iPHONE 3GS TV AD FEATURES VIPER SMART START

Apple recently unveiled their newest iPhone television ad titled "Family Man" which features the Viper Smart Start as one of the featured apps. In the ad the Smart Start is shown opening the trunk of a VW Toureg revealing a trunk full of camping or picnic gear. Directed Electronics is estatic over being featured in an Apple commercial and preliminary reports state that after airing on Tuesday (April 20th) night in the 9pm to 10pm prime time slot on popular shows like ABC's Lost, CBS's NCIS: LA, & TNT's NBA Playoff, Directed received more than 5000 hits on the Viper dealer locator page.

If you haven't checked out the Viper Smart Start for yourself already, Directed has scheduled a national "Start Me Up" campaign for consecutive Saturday's in May (15th & 22nd). Factory Sales managers will be performing live demo's in select Viper dealer showrooms and giving away entry cards for a free drawing to win a complete Smart Start system.

For more information contact your local Viper dealer

Directed Selected by MESA as a Preferred Vendor for Vehicle Security and Remote Start

-- Directed Electronics has announced that the Board of Directors of MESA, The Mobile Electronics Specialists of America, has selected Directed as a Preferred Vendor in the Vehicle Security and Remote Start category.

Mehdi Narimanian, President of Delaware-based Sound of Tri-State and Chairman of the Vehicle Security and Remote Start Category for MESA, said, “Directed has evolved through the years and is the clear leader in the Security and Convenience category — they have stepped up their game recently and our members have voted!”

According to Glenn Busse, Senior Vice President of Sales and Customer Care for Directed, “We are proud to be associated with a top notch, pro-business, smart marketing and promotionally focused retailer group. On many fronts, MESA is ready for action, and poised to be a think tank for the future of mobile electronics specialist retailing.”

Directed and MESA intend to work closely together in 2010 and beyond, to grow their authorized retailer base and work with members to drive awareness of the category, boost store traffic and attachment rates, increase accessory sales and decrease returns, according to the company.

ABOUT M.E.S.A.

M.E.S.A. (Mobile Electronics Specialists of America) is the industry’s first and only member-owned retailer marketing and selling group. Retailers meeting the criteria for membership and vendors, whose business practices support the independent channel of distribution, make up the backbone of the group. Retail and vendor members are those who have demonstrated the highest level of business principals and acumen. Retail members are comprised of dealers representing the finest installation available to consumers and are winners of multiple industry awards every year.

M.E.S.A. provides members with a wide variety of marketing materials including fully produced TV commercials, radio advertising & printed material. Unlike most marketing materials made available to groups which only offer the member the ability to “tag” a generic commercial, M.E.S.A. marketing deliverables allow retail members to customize their ads to the needs of their individual organizations. This allows members to benefit from national quality advertising layouts and media production at a cost they could never acquire individually.

M.E.S.A. also provides members with group VIR programs, pre-planned product buys with pre-produced marketing materials to support sellthrough of these items and opportunity buys of vendor overstocked or closeout products. Due to our members’ geographic isolation, vendors also benefit by being able to move products in a manner that does not affect dealers across the entire nation.While members will continue to negotiate their own programs and continue to purchase through their individual representatives, the M.E.S.A. programs further enhance their profitability and bring new opportunities through the group’s dynamic.

M.E.S.A. members share their best practices, internal forms, sales staff incentive information and other business information. Group forms for RTV, employee manual templates and sales contest templates are other examples of the ways that group members can save time by benefitting from group membership.