#TestTheSound! Real test drives of Ultimate Ears speakers

Creative
Communication strategy
Video&photo production
Media materials

Background

The portable speaker market in Ukraine is growing rapidly. In 2017, compared to 2016, the market increased by 77% in monetary terms and by 37% in volume. The monopolist held 29% of the market and led the premium segment.

The market is highly fragmented and competitive, especially in the budget segment, which is shared by dozens of Chinese brands without advertising support.

Target audience

Young people who can't imagine their lives without music. For them, music is a natural part of life, and they carry it from room to room at home. Importantly, they spend a lot of time outside their homes.

For them, a speaker is an "extension" of their smartphone, which is always with them. Our target audience is young people who lead active lives and pursue their interests outside the home, often in the company of others. These are young individuals with high purchasing power, for whom the price of a gadget is not a priority. More important are the sound quality, design, and appearance.

Objectives

To introduce the brand to the market and make it noticeable with a minimal budget.

The Ultimate Ears campaign was exclusively online, so our key objectives are:

🎯 Media goal: to reach 2 million consumers.

💬 Communication goal: to create original and native communication that will naturally encourage young people to like, comment, and share our content.

Insight

A great speaker equals sound quality. But this matters only at home. How will the speaker sound where there is no couch?

Analyzing this insight, we noticed that active young people who are into sports, photography, dance, music, and travel choose smartphones with sturdy, reliable cases for protection.

A portable speaker, like a smartphone, accompanies a person in various situations. Therefore, it's important for the speaker to be not only stylish but also durable and ready for any conditions.

Realization

We knew that the main durability parameters for speakers are shock resistance, waterproofing, and 360-degree sound.

We engaged ten extreme influencers: a rooftopper, a rider, a tattoo artist, a wakeboarder, a b-boy, a paintballer, a graffiti artist, a freestyle footballer, a drifter, and a mom blogger. They tested Ultimate Ears in their own environments: submerging it in water, driving over it with a sports car, dropping it from heights, covering it in paint, smashing it against walls, and giving it to a toddler.

We filmed short stories about each experiment. These stories became pre-roll ads for the internet campaign with the question: “Is the sound still alive?” Users could click on any of the buttons and be directed to the brand’s website with all the stories.

For the first time in Ukraine, we rebranded Shazam, the most popular music recognition app, in the yellow color of the Ultimate Ears brand and branded its main page.

This integration took place during Ukraine’s most popular music festival, Atlas Weekend, when people frequently use Shazam and where the phrase “test the sound” takes on a special significance.