Incredible Sound. Incredibly Light.

Beats by Dre

1. Brand Overview

Who They Are

Beats by Dre isn’t just another headphones company. Beats by Dre was created to ensure the perfection of the beat behind every note in a song. Beats allows its users to hear what the artists intended for them to listen to while decreasing ambient noise with noise-cancelling technology. Beats has exploded onto the scene by turning simple headphones into a statement. Not only do they focus on marketing the product's premium sound, but also its swagger through endorsements from celebrities, athletes, and musicians. Backed by Apple, Beats sits at the edge of lifestyle and innovation, where premium sound meets cultural power. 

Business Objective

This campaign isn’t just about slinging product; it's about reviving the great Beats by Dre brand as the industry leader in product quality and reclaiming brand awareness from new market entrants like Nothing, Teenage Engineering, and Anker. The goal is to increase sales, brand awareness, earned media (inorganic/organic), and Beats UGC across social media channels. 

2. The Challenge

Problem

Beats was once the brand to buy if you were buying a new pair of speakers, earphones, or headphones, but their products have lost their edge, and the younger generations didn’t grow up with Beats in their ears. Today, customers care as much about brand transparency as they do about sound quality and aesthetics. The connection to Apple brings credibility, but it also gives Beats the feeling like it's the safe choice, not the bold choice. Beat’s also has a notable history of partnering with influencers, but there comes a point where too many influencers make the campaigns feel more transactional. When Beats initially came out, they left their competitors in the dust, but now smaller companies have become more appealing to the younger generation of customers. 

Why It Matters

If Beats fails to capture the younger generations, it may become irrelevant. Gen Z doesn’t care what brands were hot in 2012. This campaign isn’t about marketing and showing off Beats products, but positioning them for their second act. Failing to reestablish Beats will turn it into a nostalgia brand that has been outpaced by new and more agile competitors. This would send Beats to the sales racks and take them off the shelves at Apple stores. 

3. Audience

Who They Are

Beats’ core audience is currently aged around 25-35, who grew up with Beats as the brand in the music space. They remember all the Beats commercials and the feeling that owning a pair of Beats headphones gave them. These consumers are now entering their early career lives with disposable income; they are still brand conscious and style driven, but want their purchases to feel smart. They’re not always chasing innovation but consistency. Although this segment is stable, they are no longer pushing culture.

Beat’s next growth engine lies in a harder-to-sell but critical segment of younger consumers, who are extremely active across TikTok, YouTube shorts, Twitch, Instagram, and Discord. Many of them aren’t just watching trends, they are creating them or seeing them before they come mainstream. This generation creates and follows content that not only impresses them and their peers but also expresses how they feel and think about the world. They grew up in a creator economy; for them, audio isn’t a background noise but part of the performance. To win over these customers, Beats must shift from a status symbol to a creative catalyst, a tool that helps them control, express intent, and tune out the noise. 

What They Want
Identify the underlying desire, not just surface-level needs. This should ladder up to something emotional, aspirational, or identity-driven.

Example prompts:
What are they really buying—status, belonging, simplicity, expression? What makes them commit?

Beats customers aren’t just looking for headphones or speakers, they are looking for something that helps them own their moment, whether it's stepping onto the subway or hitting record on an iPhone camera. They want gear that enhances the way they move through the world. What unites both segments is a need for control, clarity, confidence, and identity in a world that's fast and fragmented. They commit to brands that meet them where they are and help them become who they’re trying to become. They want functional and aspirational products, not just quality or style. 

4. Insight

Core Human Truth

The world is only getting louder, customers have to find a way to control the noise around them. People are overloaded with noise and crave focus and escape from distractions. They want a connection but feel exposed by all the nonsense around them. They scroll for inspiration but are only drowning themselves in more noise. People want to disconnect from the noise without disappearing into silence. 

Supporting Signals

LoFi beats have become extremely popular with many YouTube channels offering 24/7 streams for people to just tune in to, which allows people to not worry about changing songs every 4 minutes but just focus on what they are doing without distraction. Many people have also reported wearing headphones as a barrier of entry, so people don’t bother them. They might just be wearing the earbuds without any music or noise coming out of them, which creates a barrier around them. People aren’t just listening to content, they are using these devices as a shield and reclaiming their space.

5. Strategy

Strategic Platform

The goal of this campaign is to position Beats for their second act, appealing to both their current customers and younger demographics. It’s not about hearing music but hearing your space, shaping your boom, and expressing your identity. Whether you’re blocking out the world, working out, or having a dance party, Beats becomes the tool that helps you move emotionally, creatively, and unapologetically. It’s not about being the loudest voice in the room anymore, but about helping customers be heard.

Strategic Rationale

Beats is losing cultural heat among the next generation, they are still recognizable, but no longer irreplaceable. Competitors are now able to compete on specs, and culture has shifted. Gen Z is no longer looking for status symbols, they are looking for self-expression tools. This generation is overwhelmed, overexposed, and looking for ways to regain control. They use sound not just for listening but for filtering out the noise, to focus, and give themselves a buffer from the outside world. Beats enables them to do so and acts as a creative tool and an emotional reset for the user. 

6. Campaign Expression

Tagline or Headline

Listen to the Track. // Headphones. Earphones. Speakers. //  Hear the Beat // Stay Locked In. // Incredible Sound. Incredibly Light. // Immersive Sound // Easy to Use, Hard to Lose. // Water Resistant. // Charge Faster. // Monitor Your Heart Rate. (Powerbeats Pro 2) // Bespoke. Dynamic. Adaptive. // Tested, Then Tested Again. // 20% Lighter (PowerBeats Pro 2) // Silence. Sound. Mood. // Your World. Your Volume. // Block it Out & Lock In. // Let The Noise Pass You By. // 

Beats by Dre was created to ensure the perfection of the beat behind every note in a song. Beats allows its users to hear what the artists intended for them to listen to while decreasing ambient noise with noise-cancelling technology. // Beats, at its best, doesn’t just deliver audio. It delivers agency. It gives you back the volume knob on your life. // Life doesn’t have boundaries, so I build my own through sound. // Beats gives people the power to control their mood.

Key Message

This campaign is reframing beats from just another headphone brand, but as a tool you express yourself through. In a world that's loud and always on, Beats gives people the power to control the mood. It’s not just about music, it's about reclaiming your space through sound. We want the audience to think ‘that's me’ whether they’re zoning in, zoning out, or showing off. 

Creative Executions

• OOH - campaign series of loud areas and a person putting their earbuds/headphones in to silence the noise around them. Ads of people in the subway cart, airplane, and road trip. Photo of a person walking, but everyone/thing around them is blurred like they are being sped up. 

• Video Content - LoFi or some sort of music genres that are 24/7

• Some sort of Gen Z challenge across social channels, could include Snapchat, Instagram, or Tik Tok filters. This would also add value for potential buyers as its like a AR “try on” feature. This could also be done through the website, scan a QR code with your phone and it’ll show you what you look like with the products on.

7. Success Metrics

How We’ll Measure Impact

• Increase in sales across the product portfolio, brand awareness, boost in Gen Z purchase consideration

• 500k- 1 million monthly listens to the beats playlists

• Increase in social engagement across all channels and UGC from Gen Z customers

• Increase in earned organic media