Midwich Group announced the acquisition of The Farm, a West Coast manufacturers’ representative and technical services provider. Based in Silicon Valley, The Farm will join Starin Marketing.

Editorial Note: This is a good move by Midwich. Kudos to them. But, what is not a good move is the continued confusion and lack of value-based branding that Midwich is facing with near-zero name recognition in North America. I am not sure who has convinced them otherwise but, from my position as a branding professor, it is a terrible idea to keep the Starin brand. Midwich should not be afraid to use their name.

“Increased opportunity and better support aren’t all our customers and manufacturer partners will gain,” says CEO and President of The Farm, John Hood. “Backed by the resources of Midwich, we’ll finally be able to invest in building and deepening our services – starting with our current partners Q-SYS and Visionary Solutions. Serving the finest AV manufacturers and technology providers is in our DNA. We’ve built a team of experts, no generalists. Instead of turning down work because of resource shortages, we’ll be able to expand to meet demand.”

“More good news: None of this comes at the cost of losing who we are,” continues Hood. “The Farm’s DNA – including our character, attitude and unique perspective – remain. Neither I nor any other Farm team members are going anywhere. Your same account manager, customer service expert and programmer will all still be here for you – plus the power of an international distribution market leader. We’ll only grow.”

Asked why he wanted The Farm to join the Midwich Group and Starin, Starin’s CEO, Bobby Swartz says, “For Starin partners, this reaffirms our promise and direction to continue to build a high-value and service-focused organization. Specialization in specific services and technologies allows us to bring an ease of business to our customers and vendor partners, and we continue to drive forward with the addition of the great people at The Farm.”

“We are delighted to welcome John and his team to the Midwich Group,” adds Thomas Sumner, Chief Strategy Officer and North American CEO. “John has built a highly skilled team with a real customer focus. His decision to join us builds on our strategy of focusing on specialism. We look forward to John and team evolving their partnership with Starin, further strengthening the support we can provide our customers across the U.S.”