LAS VEGAS--Mitch Clarke, who became the new vice president of marketing at Monitronics in January, saw an opportunity when he migrated from the cable and telephony world to the security industry. Clarke felt that the security industry "was immature in its marketing and polish. We want to be more up-to-date and competitive." To this end, Monitronics has rebranded and rolled out its new logo here at ISC West, along with a slick new ad campaign. "We're hoping to bring in some motion and color," said Clarke. Monitronics has also rebranded its two-way voice system as "Smartvoice" and is featuring it prominently at the show.

Clarke and chief executive officer Michael Haislip are also focusing on Monitronics' existing dealer program. The company is hosting meetings with its dealers at ISC West and is bringing others in to have Q&A sessions, according to Clarke, in order to share ideas across the board. "We want to evolve with our dealers as they grow," said Clarke, who's aiming to "pull together our dealers and work together in a combined effort." Currently, Monitronics has 450 dealers and monitors more than half a million accounts across the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada.

As part of a company-wide investment that represents "ten million dollars in infrastructure and support systems," in March Monitronics moved its existing central station onto the fifth floor of its headquarters in Dallas, a space of "close to 100,000 square feet," said Michael Meyers, vice president and chief finance officer of the company. And "within 60 days, we will have a separate, fully redundant, hot back-up center, in which the company has invested an additional "several million dollars." The facility, which will also perform other functions in addition to monitoring, will be located in McKenney, Texas.

"Almost everything we do is about having a better life," said Clarke. "For the dealer, the customer, and our employees. If we keep to that mantra, we can do things."

For more on this story, see the May issue of Security Systems News.