Difference Makers
Passion Makes Perfect With an all-out love of audio, it’s not just about product for CF Marketing, but good sound and solid service. WORDS BY JAMIE SORCHER
Howard Feldman figured out early on in his career that running a successful rep firm is about passion for the product and for high-quality sound. “In college I managed a bunch of record stores so I was always in audio,” he said. “I wanted to get out of retail so I answered a blind ad back in 1983. It was from Bob Rosenberg who had a rep company, Bob Rosenberg Associates. I was hired by Bob and he was, among other things, the Kenwood rep. I ended up working for him almost 20 years until he
40 Mobile Electronics January 2020
retired in 1999, so I’ve been a Kenwood rep now for 37 years.” After his stint with Rosenberg Associates, Feldman formed CF Marketing with partner Claude Colson (the “C” in CF Marketing). “He retired eight years ago and I didn’t want to change the name to just ‘F Marketing,’ so it has stayed the same,” Feldman said, adding that the company is a bit different from other reps in that the firm manages both home and car. Feldman remembered years ago when Kenwood was in both the car and home businesses. “Eventually Kenwood decided
to get out of the home side of things,” he added, “but we stayed in it so we’re a bit more of a rare breed in that we do both. It is probably 60 percent car and 40 percent home.”
A Wide Territory with a Small Team Based in Elkridge, Maryland, CF Marketing covers the mid-Atlantic territory. It includes all of Maryland, Washington D.C., eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. In Pennsylvania, the territory is expansive, ranging from Philadelphia to State College and way up to Wilkes-Barre. In New Jersey, the
