Beats by Dre
Emotion of Music
The best music not only evokes emotion with the listener, but likely started because the artist themselves was moved by a feeling so raw and strong that they were compelled to create something. It was this insight that drove Beats by Dre to launch a documentary-style campaign called Emotion of Music during the 2018 holiday shopping season.
Services
97%
Positive or neutral sentiment
500,000,000
Impressions
38%
Lift in purchase consideration
Challenge
The Emotion of Music campaign featured multiple artists, but a particular effort centered on Halsey, one of the fastest rising musicians of 2018. Beats by Dre wanted a digital media campaign that would strengthen and reinforce the brand’s ethos of delivering music the way the artist intended, increase awareness and engagement among music fans (particularly among women), and drive consideration and purchase intent.
Strategy & Approach
PMG’s strategy was to leverage Halsey’s TV appearances and new song release (Without Me) to increase visibility and engagement and create key brand moments, as well as deliver Beats’ messaging in ways that would resonate with a high-potential female audience segment.
The media plan consisted primarily of paid social media and high-impact placements with premium digital partners. We aligned with key Halsey moments and appearances, including the American Music Awards. Digital support included high-impact placements in real-time on Twitter and YouTube, in coordination with an agency partner’s effort to extend the linear TVC campaign with a FEP/VOD buy with key broadcast partners — the result of both being to further drive consideration among core and growth audiences.
PMG also negotiated a custom Halsey Twitter activation, capitalizing on conversations happening on the platform around her music video drop moment. Additionally, the team also synced premium digital media against Halsey’s performances at the Victoria Secret Fashion show and the finale of The Voice.
Results
Overall, the campaign was a huge success. PMG delivered more than half a billion impressions, and overall sentiment netted out to 97% positive/neutral throughout the campaign. The campaign’s hero film featuring Halsey saw a hugely impressive completion rate of 92%, easily beating benchmarks. And according to a Twitter brand lift study, users were 38% more likely to consider purchasing Beats compared to those who didn’t see the ad.
Moreover, the placements delivered against Beats’ goal to connect with a key female segment during the holiday season. On Twitter, women liked, commented, and shared Halsey’s hero film to their own networks at a rate of 172% more than men. On YouTube, women chose to actively click to play the video 62% more often than men in the new, never-been-done-before Home Feed placement. Additionally, 64% of the “Female Music Lovers” who watched the film in the cinema (as executed by another agency partner) were more likely to consider Beats.
