Music to my ears: six strong headphone ads

Enzo’s Monday Motion #187: The market of high-end headphones is booming. Six brands who use different genres to plug into their audience.

Bang & Olufsen ~ Design Purists

Danish Design excels in simplicity and beauty. This audio brand is no exception to the rule.

Creative agency Wednesday translates the brand core values of honest materials and conscientious design choices into a 3D abstract art piece. Directed, designed, and animated by ManvsMachine. For the purists, there’s also the research and style frames available.

Microsoft ~ Apples and oranges

Apple is seriously losing territory on the techy/design side. Their computer nemesis is no longer the ugly duckling.

There’s no point in arguing on taste and s̶m̶e̶l̶l ̶ hearing. But Microsoft ís taking big steps when it comes to smart design. The edit is a nice mash-up of sophisticated design, practical use outdoors and inside with their Office 365 integration. The ending on full colours reminded me too much of the classic Apple spots, but besides that, it’s a strong spot!

Apple ~ Bouncy AirPods

For Apple, design and tech are standards that they don’t need to emphasize. For them is all about freedom and joy.

Where the Cupertino brand is in heavy weather on the product part, it’s still shining bright in ad-land. Their style is still impeccable and recognisable. Hopefully for them, people decide with their hearts and not with their heads.

Beats ~ Above the noise

Headphones have become a mix between a fashion statement and a status symbol. The brand that owns the role model, owns the crowd. A golden rule followed closely by Beats.

The Nike of audio has a huge sportive star cast from LeBron James to Neymar and mixed martial arts superstar Conor McGregor. This campaign shines bright on many sides: the ad was timed just before the ‘’Money Fight’ against Floyd Mayweather, thus claiming a lot of attention.

The commercial follows the overarching “Above the noise” campaign. Fuelling people to believe in themselves and triggering their inner strength.

The background story and casting reach a feature film level. Young Conan’s body language is spotless and the classic soundtrack places it in the right era. A true diamond directed by James Lees.

JBL ~ Dare to listen

Best in tech, design or image… in the end, it’s about leaving a great impression, which is also reachable with comedy.

JBL focusses on the lesser outspoken audience. The ad is, besides funny, also extremely relatable. Two variables which can be key in the decisive moment.

Bose ~ Focus on

Noise-canceling is becoming almost equally important as actually listening. Many ads play with this feature. I picked Bose’s version of zoning out.

Director Juan Cabral uses a visually and playful way of subtle fading distractions. A nice concept (by Grey New York) that is applicable to many situations from work to home. Produced by Hogarth.

Last Week

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Enzo Greco is Motion Director at Born05.