DATE: 2/27/86 MAZDA MOTORS PURCHASES JVC EQUIPMENT FOR EAST COAST SALES Both for the customer and for the employee, Mazda Motors has equipped its showrooms throughout the East Coast with video playback equipment. Across 18 states, nearly 120 Mazda showrooms now have the BP-5100 VHS player and TM-2084 20-in. monitor from JVC COMPANY OF AMERICA for action sequences to exhibit Mazda automobiles at their best. Stepping Up From Slides ----------------------- According to sales training manager Bob Wilkins, who is based at Mazda headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla., "Three separate divisions are using the video capabilities we now have: sales, parts and service. The programming for parts and service is often very technical but the sales tapes are usually product oriented--and more entertaining." Many of the Mazda showrooms had already been equipped with video playback capability, but for the ones that hadn't, Mazda offered an excellent package of player, monitor and custom cabinetry on casters for $1550. An additional 114 locations linked up to the Mazda video network. "We had been using Fairchild slide projectors in the past," says Wilkins. "But car sales require motion. Video was the ideal solution." Reliance on Video ----------------- Because just about all Mazda dealers now have playback capability, many technical tapes come from Japan. Programming produced in America for Mazda East has been produced with the aid of Jack Morton Productions in Atlanta. Wilkins was instrumental in the purchase of the JVC equipment. Merchandise was sold to Mazda by Technical Industries of Georgia at the suggestion of Ed Matthews who understood the company's needs. Wilkins reports great satisfaction with the system, and says he made the selection based on JVC's excellent reputation as well as some of the convenient features such as auto-rewind and auto-replay. Feedback -------- Thus far, the Mazda employees have been pleased with the programming they have received, which range from technical tapes on fuel injection to programs on customer relations to videos focusing on the 1986 Mazda RX7. We plan on creating 12 to 15 programs in 1986," projects Wilkins. "We are also considering doing a quarterly 'magazine' program on video. We want to use our video capabilities to their greatest advantage."