Apple, Inc. Beats promotes Solo2 headphones with new celebrity-packed #SoloSelfie campaign

Posted:
in iPhone edited December 2014
Apple subsidiary Beats Electronics has launched a new #SoloSelfie advertising and social media campaign promoting its Solo2 headphones, featuring a wide range of popular celebrities.

Beats Solo2


A new video first appeared today on the Beats by Dre YouTube account, presenting a series of athletes, musicians, actors and other famous individuals posing in video selfie clips.

Each segment starts with a closeup of the Beats logo on one side of the individual's headphones, then pans around to capture their face and the activity behind them before ending the clip on the Beats logo of their opposite ear. The ad was inspired by a "Donut Selfie" video posted to YouTube by Karen Cheng of San Francisco.



The spot features more than 20 different celebrities, including sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner (the daughters of Bruce Jenner, most famous for their appearances on the TV show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians"); professional BMX rider Nigel Sylvester; rappers Funkmaster Flex, Big Sean, Jadakiss, Nicki Minaj and Fabolous; actor Norman Reedus of "The Walking Dead," tennis legend Serena Williams, Swedish DJ Alesso, New York DJ Vashtie, English hip hop duo Rizzle Kicks, YouTube star Bethany Mota and New York Giant's NFL wide receiver Victor Cruz.

The clip links to a second spot featuring Saturday Night Live comedian Kenan Thompson, posing as "Pimptastic" to show how to create a "Solo Selfie." In the clip, Thompson uses a gold iPhone 6 Plus, and recommends, "if you want to crank up the pimp juice, do it in Slomo."



"Show your #SoloSelfie" the video states, suggesting social media hashtags #SoloSelfie and #BeatsByDre on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

"The Beats Solo2 is the world's best-selling headphone. They're a symbol of individuality as much as they represent a connection shared by millions of people across the globe," the videos' comments state.

Both clips are paired with a catchy new track "Something New" by Axwell ^ Ingrosso (both of whom appear in the video), with the lyrics "we belong to something new," featuring a stereo panning effect that makes the song particularly well paired to a headphones commercial.

Selfie slip-ups

A variety of companies have sought to co-opt the idea of a cell phone "selfie," often by asking users to pose next to their product or to otherwise promote their brands using hashtags, often with embarrassing consequences. This summer, Fast Company profiled a series of selfie blunders that it noted "wind up looking pathetic and they kill the fun for everyone."

Samsung is currently asking users to take a selfie tagged with #SamsungTVSelfies for a chance to win prizes including a television. It has also paid celebrities to pose with its products, a plan that has repeatedly backfired as a series of its celebrities went back to using their iPhone to tweet afterward, notably including Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres earlier this year.

By associating fans with such a wide range of popular celebrities, while also "reinventing the selfie" in a playful, expressive video format that people are likely to want to join, Apple's Beats appears likely to be the exception to corporate selfie flops.

The new campaign follows the introduction of new Beats Solo2 Wireless Bluetooth headphones last week.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    dachardachar Posts: 330member
    Not sure how use of a headphone can express individuality if it is the worlds best selling headphone. How individual can it be if it is so popular?
  • Reply 2 of 18
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dachar View Post



    Not sure how use of a headphone can express individuality if it is the worlds best selling headphone. How individual can it be if it is so popular?

    COLOR

  • Reply 3 of 18
    canukstorm wrote: »
    COLOR

    At least the new Bose while a bit gimmicky allow you to customize the color more then just choosing one of the seven colors that everyone else can buy.
  • Reply 4 of 18

    This ad demonstrates how wearing headphones makes you look like a dork. Even the girls.

  • Reply 5 of 18
    dachardachar Posts: 330member



    Thanks for that, I did not know that there was a choice of colours. In my book to be individual means to do something unique that no one else does. For the headphones to be individual it would be great if they could be ordered in any colour combination similar to choosing the exact colour match for wall paint. A choice of 7 colours can't really be called unique, especially for the most popular headphones in the world but it is a lot better than in the days of Henry Ford's Model T that came in any colour you liked as long as it was black.

  • Reply 6 of 18

    I'd like to know if these ads are measurably affected sales. Beats were reportedly already the top-selling headphones, so why the massive increase in advertising?

  • Reply 7 of 18
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post

     

    I'd like to know if these ads are measurably affected sales. Beats were reportedly already the top-selling headphones, so why the massive increase in advertising?


     

    So that Tim Cook can still pretend that Apple's hip.

  • Reply 8 of 18
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Beats were reportedly already the top-selling headphones, so why the massive increase in advertising?

    What massive increase? This is just a twitter tag with a video and it is coming up for Christmas. They probably had to find something for that twitter guy they hired a while back to do.

    There's an extended version of the tutorial video here:


    [VIDEO]


    I think the ad was pretty well made for a selfie campaign. I doubt it will catch on as it's too explicitly a marketing campaign and there's nothing in it for the person taking the selfie.

    Forced marketing doesn't go over too well. Kim Kardashian recently had nude photos done and tried to promote them with #breaktheinternet. People mostly started making fun of the photos. Nudity will always get some interest though.
    Bill Cosby tried to get people to do a #cosbymeme using images of him with funny captions. Because he's been accused of drug-raping 15 or so women decades ago, it didn't go how he planned:

    1000

    1000

    https://twitter.com/hashtag/cosbymeme

    1000
  • Reply 9 of 18
    I'd like to know if these ads are measurably affected sales. Beats were reportedly already the top-selling headphones, so why the massive increase in advertising?

    'Tis the season to don our gay apparel...tra la la la...
  • Reply 10 of 18
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    'Tis the season to don our gay apparel...tra la la la...

    Is it that time already for me to pull this out of storage? :lol:
    400
  • Reply 11 of 18
    pazuzupazuzu Posts: 1,728member

    I will never buy Beats.

    EVER.

  • Reply 12 of 18
    newbeenewbee Posts: 2,055member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Benjamin Frost View Post

     

    This ad demonstrates how wearing headphones makes you look like a dork. Even the girls.




    Kind of like you and your posts ? ....got it.

  • Reply 13 of 18
    newbeenewbee Posts: 2,055member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dachar View Post



    Not sure how use of a headphone can express individuality if it is the worlds best selling headphone. How individual can it be if it is so popular?



    Would you rather be the one person in the world to own the dorkiest headphones ever ?  Would that express enough individuality for you ?

  • Reply 14 of 18
    newbeenewbee Posts: 2,055member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Macky the Macky View Post





    'Tis the season to don our gay apparel...tra la la la...



    " 'Tis the season to be jolly" ..... or ..... "Now we don our gay apparel" .....never heard your particular "mashup" before. As a "traditionalist", I give it 1 star for "it's the thought that counts" ....but that's it.

  • Reply 15 of 18

    The sorry commentary of my life... besides Serena Williams, I do not know even a single person mentioned in the celebrity list.

  • Reply 16 of 18
    The sorry commentary of my life... besides Serena Williams, I do not know even a single person mentioned in the celebrity list.

    Me neither. You must be a man of good taste.
  • Reply 17 of 18
    Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner the dynamic duo - http://VineSnap.NET/kylizzle.html and http://VineSnap.NET/kendall-jenner.html
  • Reply 18 of 18
    It will distinguish you from others who wear solo if you plug the BTunes into it.
    Check the BTunes out on Kickstarter.com, it will turn your solo wireless.
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