Harman International Industries Inc.

08/03/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 08/03/2021 09:17

Creating Unforgettable Consumer & Cultural Experiences: A Mid-Year Review with HARMAN (Part 2)

Every year, we at HARMAN pride ourselves on devoting our time and energy to developing consumer experiences that celebrate our audio leadership, and culture-building initiatives that better serve the communities we value and love. While 2021 presented its own set of challenges to our organization and our teams globally, we found new ways to connect, engage and innovate across our organization! You heard about some of our automotive and enterprise successes from this past year, now learn more about some of the audio and culture-focused programs and activations we've celebrated so far:

Iconic JBL Turns 75

This year, legendary HARMAN brand JBL celebrated 75 incredible years of creating unmatched, unforgettable audio experiences for consumers and professionals across the globe. Since its founding, JBL has remained and will continue to stay grounded at the intersection of music, pop culture, sports and gaming. With a mix of celebrations, from honoring JBL Professional's contribution to the OSCARS, hosting trivia contests to crafting and releasing exclusive and limited edition 75th anniversary products, and hearing from some of JBL's greatest Global Brand Ambassadors like A.R. Rahman, we found plenty of ways to honor the legacy of this treasured member of the HARMAN house of brands.

Committing to Our Planet, People and Performance on Earth Day

As a brand committed to the well-being of our planet, we at HARMAN look forward to Earth Day every year. To honor the holiday in 2021, we reinforced our environmental commitments to the planet, our people and performance. Strategic goals were set to reduce energy consumption and waste production and improve water conservation. Between 2018 and 2019, our absolute scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions decreased 6% and waste generation decreased by 2%. We also encouraged carpooling to reduce traffic pollution and dedicated 8 hours of PTO for employees to volunteer for important causes. We also continued to partner with new organizations that share our values. Most importantly, we look forward to keeping up the work to ensure our product development and supply chain operations align with our ethical, environmental, and social responsibilities.

Make Music Day 2021: Spreading the Unifying Power of Music

HARMAN's roots in the music industry and longstanding love for cultivating superior audio experiences for music devotees and artists alike align perfectly with one of our favorite summer holidays, Make Music Day! This year, we took the opportunity to celebrate our love for music and spread joy throughout the HARMAN ecosystem as well as in our own communities. Learn more about how we celebrated in 2021 with heart-warming window serenades at local long-term care facilities and jamming virtually with our coworkers.

Record-Shattering iF Design Award Wins

This year, HARMAN and its amazingly talented in-house agency Huemen continued to push the boundaries of design excellence by winning an incredible 23 iF World Design Awards! The iF Design Awards are known around the world as one of the premier product design competitions. HARMAN and Huemen took home awards for outstanding and original design for a wide array of audio products from our preeminent brands like JBL, Harman Kardon, and Infinity across consumer, luxury, and car audio categories as well as user interface and app design functionalities. What makes the Huemen team so extraordinary? How do they maintain such a phenomenal level of excellence? The answer lies in its name: a human-centric approach that guides everything that the people at Huemen do. Keeping their focus firmly fixed on the user, day in and day out the Huemen teams create products that seamlessly combine intelligent form and intuitive function, technical prowess and aesthetic appeal.

Rocking out and Giving Back with JBL True Summer

In JBL's mission to bring back True Summer vibes and bring much-needed aid and opportunity to performers, we hosted pop-up concerts in thriving cities across the U.S., providing a safe, music-centric experience for our consumers. The JBL True Summer concert series kicked off at an iconic Los Angeles venue with performances by global music sensation and JBL ambassador Bebe Rexha, singer-songwriter and multi-platinum recording artist Jason Derulo and well-renowned DJ Sophia Eris. JBL graciously chose to donate a portion of sales on JBL.com to support the National Independent Venue Association's (NIVA) #SaveOurStages initiative, encouraging legislators to provide aid and infrastructure to help independent venues survive. JBL also made a product donation to NIVA valued at $100,000.

Black History Month: Encouraging Inclusivity and Change

This Black History Month brought reflection and education across every team at HARMAN. In order to reinforce the organization's long-standing commitment to a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment, we called on the expertise and experience of members of the HARMAN Black Professionals Network to bring their perspective to an in-depth, informative webinar titled, 'Progression, education and celebration: Embracing our Black Heritage and Culture.' A number of talented HARMAN employees also came together to create the Black Task Force and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council, which seeks to ensure the values and principles of a diverse, inclusive workplace will continue to be felt and instilled throughout HARMAN.

As the year continues, we at HARMAN know we will have plenty more to celebrate - whether it is the powerful sound experiences we'll deliver or the organizational initiatives that continue to strengthen our unique culture! Want to stay up to date with every exciting happening at HARMAN? Be sure to check back at https://news.harman.com