Beats by Dre
Celebrating the NBA Collection
Watch any game or match in a major professional sports league, and chances are high that you will see the top athletes wearing headphones from Beats by Dre during their warmups. For years, Beats had built its global brand through the creative use of major sporting and cultural events to establish its market-leading position, despite not having the benefits of being an official sponsor for those global moments. But in 2018, Beats became the official headphones of the NBA. Shortly thereafter, the brand launched its NBA Collection headphones to celebrate.
Services
9 M
Million video views
75%
Quality video view
45 M
Million impressions
Challenge
Beats wanted something captivating and inspirational to help promote its NBA Collection headphones by leveraging its athlete ambassadors (who are on some of the league’s most popular teams) to bring fans closer to their hometown teams and the music that inspires the sport’s best players. PMG’s challenge was to identify a content partner that would help craft and distribute the story; manage the process between the client, content partner, and the NBA; and create a media plan that would deliver impactful placements that drove awareness, engagement, and sales.
Strategy & Approach
PMG chose Bleacher Report as its primary partner for the campaign, not only for its ability to reach Beats’ target audience but also due to its powerful storytelling capabilities. The content strategy was to create a series of localized docu-films that paired a player from a featured team with emerging artists from that same city or region. There were six pairs (and cities) featured, including: Los Angeles (LeBron James and Buddy), Houston (James Harden and Sauce Walka), Toronto (Kyle Lowry and Jesse Reyez), Philadelphia (Ben Simmons and Tierra Whack), Golden State (Draymond Green and Saweetie) and Boston (Jayson Tatum and Cousin Stizz). Together, they created moving portraits of their respective cities through music and sport.
In shepherding the processes around the development and distribution of the stories as told through video, PMG worked closely with the NBA to ensure social extensions were in place to amplify the messaging and improve reach. PMG then executed high impact placements across devices around NBA content, including shoppable social elements.
Results
The campaign delivered results as exciting as LeBron’s iconic come-from-behind block in the Finals. PMG exceeded goals for completed views by more than half, with 75% of all viewers watching the full videos. There were nine million overall video views, including from the six docu-films, and while the campaign ended early because Beats wanted to shift media to a new product launch, the placements delivered 43 million impressions, 8% more than planned. PMG also helped Beats forge new industry partnerships as the brand became the first branded partner to integrate with the NBA’s Instagram Shopping feature.
