Let Your Ears Be Loved
If I asked you to name any headphone brand, what would come to mind first?
For many, Beats by Dre is the obvious choice.
Between 2009 and 2014, Beats had come to own pop culture, fashion, and 47.6% of the US headphone market through a powerful combination of Hollywood budgets and celebrity endorsements. But in the spring of 2014, Sennheiser, a small German challenger, came to us with the task of launching their new lifestyle headphone, the Urbanite.
Our goal was to establish the Sennheiser brand in the lifestyle headphone category and connect the Urbanite to young Millennials (18-24) in a way that challenged their blind allegiance to Beats.
But with a limited budget, 2% market share, and next-to-no brand equity, how could we make a meaningful dent in the headphone conversation?
As the lead planner, I took a step back and realized that we had the one thing an overexposed brand like Beats could never offer young Millennials. We were undiscovered.
By owning both the discovery young Millennials desired and the dedicated passion behind the every headphone, we could propel the Urbanite into the lifestyle category and put Sennheiser on the map.
Introducing Sennheiser to Tastemaking Millennials
With a small budget, it became clear early on that we wouldn’t have the resources to be all things to all people. After exploring a number of Millennial reports, I delved into the culture around digital curation sites like Hypebeast, Uncrate, Cool Hunting, and Refinery29 to identify a group we deemed Tastemaking Millennials as the most viable subgroup.
Through an endless cycle of discovery, Tastemaking Millennials constantly seek new trends, content, and music before they reach the early majority of users. For them, the investment of time and effort pays off in social currency among their tribe.
For us, it meant the opportunity to reframe Sennheiser as an authentic brand poised for discovery.
Speaking Directly to Tastemakers’ Values
While Beats would continue to own pop culture and mainstream fashion, we could tailor Sennheiser’s message to Tastemakers’ values and cultivate a small, powerful group of brand evangelists.
After analyzing trends in Millennial brand affinity, authenticity, discovery, and authorship emerged as the strongest values to leverage.
Authenticity – “I appreciate honesty and transparency”
Young Millennials were raised in a mass-market environment, creating an endless desire for unique experiences and crafted products.
Discovery – “I am the first of my friends to try new things”
In an age of infinite information, Tastemaking Millennials place immense value on undiscovered brands, artists, and experiences.
Authorship – “I want to follow my passions”
Millennials are eager to support brands that value passion over profits.
The Strategy
Strategically, our story was taking shape.
I had reframed Beats’ advantages as disadvantages and identified the open space in the category. I had uncovered a compatible target group and established the values that would connect the Urbanite to Tastemaking Millennials.
And now, it was time to distill these elements into a compelling strategic framework.
If Beats is..
Cheaply Manufactured +The Showy Category Leader + Fashion Accessory
And Tastemakers want..
Authenticity + Discovery + Authorship
The Urbanite can be..
A Crafted Product Experience
An Undiscovered, Authentic Challenger
Built from a Passion for Sound
With the framework laid out, I crystalized these pillars into one, central strategic idea:
We’re not obsessed with image. We’re obsessed with sound.
Let Your Ears Be Loved
I worked closely with the creative teams to mold the strategy into a concept called Let Your Ears Be Loved. The creative execution personified the Urbanite as a character whose love for ears is unparalleled.
This concept would connect Millennials to the authenticity and passion of the Sennheiser story through a memorable character. And as a challenger brand, Sennheiser could cut through a category striving to “out-cool” one another with a unique, quirky personality.
For maximum traction among Tastemaking Millennials, we developed media partnerships with Vice and The Fader to seed the campaign’s video content in our target’s current discovery cycle.
In addition to purely digital endeavors, we brought Millennials’ love for discovery to life through a scavenger hunt in New York and London. Over the course of two weeks, we would hide roughly 1,500 “Golden Ears” across the two cities in an effort that wove digital, social, and experiential tactics into a strong, engaging brand story.
Results
We hit one million views in the first 10 days of the campaign with help from:
Mashable
Adweek
Fast Company
Creativity Online - Editor's Pick
AdForum - Editor's Pick
And the front page of Reddit r/videos AKA the Millennial promise land.
