Sarah Yule – MD Orange Amplification
In January, Orange Amplification announced the appointment of Sarah Yule as its Managing Director. Sarah brings a wealth of experience in the Audio and MI sectors, and is looking forward to bringing collaborations and liaisons across the business, to bring Orange through the next phase of development. MIN’s Andy Hughes enjoyed a conversation with Sarah, when she discussed her career experience, and her plans for Orange.
You have wide experience in the audio and electronics sectors, how did you start in those areas?
I have always wanted to have a career that is connected with music in some way. As a child I was painfully shy, and a bit of a nerd to be honest, but I really loved being around music, even though I knew I was never going to be the performer. When I got to the age of fifteen and I was preparing for the Work Experience that you have at that age, the BBC sent a package to the school about jobs within the organisation, and one of them was Sound Engineer. So, I thought that was perfect for me, I could be a complete geek and still be around musicians, and I could do something that felt creative, but do it my own way. I had my heart set on that, so that was the basis of the studies I did. I took A-Level Physics, and Music Tech. and I did a City And Guilds in Sound Engineering at college, then I went to The Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts and did Sound Technology. It was because I had my first son while I was studying that I ended up in this industry. I finished my first lot of study at university when I was thirty-seven weeks pregnant, and I went back for my Final Year when he was seven weeks old, and I graduated three days before his first birthday. I’d lined up some studio work and I’d been doing some freelance sound engineering around Liverpool, but I realised that baby hours and concert hours didn’t really go together too well! I figured that all you needed to be a freelance sound engineer was your own ProTools HD rig, and then you could advertise your services, that was a particular piece of kit that engineers were using. I figured I’d get myself a ‘normal’ day job, and do engineering in the evenings. My day job was at Dolphin Music, a music instrument retailer in Liverpool. I realised that this was the career path for me, and I have been very privileged to see all the different sides of the audio industry, all part of the same sphere, and that is where my ‘happy place is’, the audio and product side of the world of music.
Your Instagram describes you as an ‘audio nerd’, what does that mean to you?
I think I am an audio nerd, I don’t think I can call myself an ‘audiophile’, that would need me to be older, and beardy, and wearing white socks and sandals! That’s the image that label conjures up for me. I love to listen to music, not just for the lyrics and the basslines, but for the production values on different tracks. I still enjoy putting on a vinyl album and listening through from start to finish. I am a bit of a nerd, with my engineering background. I have been known to leave restaurants because the quality of the speakers they have is something I can’t stand! I can, and I do simply listen to music for enjoyment, and don’t analyse it, but sometimes, if things are too bad to be ignored, then I can’t switch off that part of my brain that picks up things like that.
What was your management role immediately before you joined Orange?
Before I joined Orange I was at KEF, another great British company but in the Hi-Fi sector. I wore various hats there. I initially joined as their Commercial Director, and then I grew into becoming their Marketing Director for Europe, and then the General Manager for the new Global Brand Experience Centre which they opened in central London. That was my ‘baby’, that project. I was there for three-and-a-half years. I have always been fascinated by the selling of high-end luxury brands, including music. If you are selling jewellery, or perfume, they are highly relatable to music. Think if you are selling something like an expensive perfume, it is entirely subjective for the individual as to whether the perfume is attractive or not. And I think in audio, we don’t always do justice to the art and the science that goes into making great products. During my time at KEF it was interesting to re-position the brand as a luxury brand in terms of how it was presented and sold through the Experience Centre. It’s much more about how the brand is presented, and how it translates to the consumers, the feeling and emotions involved, rather than just products and specs, and technical details. That was evolved through different collaborations and partnerships, and sensory experiences that we organised. It was a lot of fun and a great company.
Orange has such an iconic image as a band. I was watching a video of Ike And Tina Turner performing Proud Mary, and just behind Ike is his Orange stack, you simply can’t miss it, it has such a visual impact.
It does, and when I was talking to Cliff (Cooper, company founder) about an opportunity at Orange, I was aware of what a huge brand presence it has had for so long. I wasn’t around in the 60’s and 70’s, but I am a huge fan of Soul and Motown, and rock and roll, and those images are there, Stevie Wonder doing ‘Superstition’ with the Orange amps in view. And Oasis in the ‘90’s, carrying the brand on.
Do you have a Plan in place for the company moving forward?
There is a plan we are working on. I’m two-and-a-half months in now, so there are things in development, and I think we are getting a very clear picture of where we want the company to go. It’s very clear that Cliff Cooper never sits still, he is always looking at ideas and aspects of innovation being explored. I am looking at aligning all the various strands of the company to move them forward together. We have the company’s sixtieth anniversary coming up in three years’ time, so we want to do something very special for that. We want to continue with the aspects of the company that work with our identity, while also keeping up with developments in the broader market. It’s so important to stay true to who you are as a brand, while also addressing the changes in modern music production and delivery.
Is your role as MD to collate and develop the ideas that are coming through, or are you responsible for generating those ideas and getting them through to the various parts of the company?
It’s a little of both I think. Orange is still a family company and we are a relatively small team, and everyone is really passionate about the product and about the industry. I don’t think I am there to push down the ideas, there are a lot of ideas here already. I think my role is to navigate and refine, and bring my experience from previous roles into the company. I am looking at how we can explore some collaborations and technologies, and bring some new ideas as well, I think a fresh pair of eyes is often valuable in moving a company forward. This position feels like the perfect mix of all my previous roles, and it feels like a great fit.
Is there such a thing as a ‘typical’ day for you?
Every day has been different, and I have very much enjoyed that. One thing I have learned about myself is that I am a good generalist. I am good at doing ‘broad’, and juggling different complexities. I tend to get quite bored if I am doing the same thing over and over, or being pigeonholed into one small narrow section of a business. There has been a lot of travel up to now, because I have made sure I have spent time with every single employee of the company, no matter where they are in the world. All our key partners need to be visited. I have just got back from a trip to our key retailers in Europe. I am busy listening and learning and absorbing as much information as I can in these early months. I think when I move into the next phase there may be some more regularity to my day, but for now, it is very flexible. I think personal interaction is really important when dealing with people. People tend to be a bit more formal in virtual conversations, rather than when you are in the same room, so I want to give everyone a space to be open about ideas, or anything on their minds, and that works better in person.
Does your role involve making final decisions, and does that bring an added pressure, knowing that the responsibility does lie with you?
Definitely. That was one of the key aspects asked of me when I joined the company, because I think that sometimes a delay in final decision making can slow down a company that could otherwise be relatively agile, because there is not a mechanism in place for final decisions to be taken, someone willing to take those decisions, and live with the consequences. I think it’s something I feel relatively comfortable with. I am someone who will endeavour to source all the information available about a pending decision, and then balance the information against what we are trying to achieve. I honestly think that if you know why you are making a decision, and you have based that decision on the information you have, and the decision doesn’t go the way you planned, that doesn’t mean you made a wrong decision, You made a right decision based on the information you had at the time, and the outcome influences whether or not you would make that same decision again, or alter it based on new information you have obtained in the interim. That makes it an opportunity to learn. It’s better to make a decision, and sometimes fail, than to hang around and try and wait for the perfect solution to present itself. As with everything, there rarely is a perfect answer, and that’s true in life, so there is no reason for it not to be true in business. I think it’s better to make the decision, and learn and move forward, than to stand still. You only have to look at the news, and social media, to know that the world is moving far too fast to simply sit back and wait for something to show you the way.
As we speak, the worldwide tariffs being introduced by President Trump were announced a couple of days ago, what do you think the impact will be for Orange?
There is going to be an impact, but obviously it’s too early at this stage to say what it’s going to be, or what form it’s going to take. Someone said to me, it’s only ten percent, and compared to other countries, that’s not as bad as it could be, it is still ten percent, and it’s still significant. There has already been a compression across so many industries in terms of margin erosion and competition on price points. We can no longer compete entirely on price comparisons, it has to be across value as a whole, and that is a broader piece to deal with. We are lucky because we do have manufacturing bases in more than one Asian country, and also UK-based manufacturing which gives us more agility than some other companies.
Do you feel that in terms of market territory you have the market bases you want, or are you still looking for expansion?
I think there is always room for growth When you look at the book that was published around our fiftieth anniversary, it points out that Cliff is very proud of exporting Orange around the world. I think if I look at it now, we are still slightly under-represented in certain areas, and I would like to address that. We have representation pretty much all over the world, but there are further development opportunities to explore, in America, in sub-Saharan Africa, and some parts of south-east Asia. I think with a bit more focus, there are growth opportunities there. There have been huge outpourings of music and genres from Africa, India, and South America. We’re not necessarily seeing that in our market share, and that’s something I want to look into, to increase Cliff’s vision of Orange as a company of the world.
Have you got a favourite musician?
It has to be Stevie Wonder. My first day at Orange was the first day of the NAMM Show. I gave a speech as an Independent Speaker, and a couple of days later, I got to hang around in the back room at the Orange booth, and Stevie was there playing instruments and chatting with Cliff, and I was there, it was just surreal! They’ve been friends since the sixties, so they chatted away for ages, it was wonderful to be in the presence of an idol like Stevie.
Are there any artists you would like to bring into the Orange roster of artists?
All of them! It’s wonderful when I look at Instagram performances and see musicians who have Orange equipment in their studio or their stage setup, and I would love to see us continuing to involve and inspire artists. It’s such a happy colour; I’d love it to be a backdrop around music. It’s a brand that has never been afraid to be different. It was the ‘indie’ versus the ‘major’, it was David versus Goliath. It was going to be different, a product range, a studio, a brand, it was different. I am really committed to see how we can bring on new young artists. We have a feature called Spotlight on our website where we feature a new artist on their and on our social media, interesting artists around the world, And I’d love us to continue to support grassroots artists and venues, and we need to support that level of the industry. We are all one together. If we stop music being a viable career for young artists, then everything will break down. We need access to music in schools, it’s important, and I hate to see companies acting like it’s nothing to do with them, because it’s to do with all of us, we are all part of the same whole, and support benefits everyone in the long run.
ANDY HUGHES.
The post Sarah Yule – MD Orange Amplification appeared first on Music Instrument News.
Source: musicinstrumentnews.co.uk
