Olivia Rodrigo is a three-time Grammy winner, a multiplatinum artist and—for the higher a part of subsequent yr—a relentless touring salesperson for her newest album, Guts, launched earlier this month.
To Sony Electronics, nonetheless, she’s each a creator and teacher.
Final yr, Sony launched its $200 LinkBuds S wi-fi earphones as a go-between for its $280 WF-1000XM4 skilled noise-canceling earbuds and its starter $100 WF-C500S fashions. Designed as a noise-canceling model of Sony’s preexisting LinkBuds ($180), the LinkBuds S have been constructed so Gen Z customers would by no means have to show them off—switching from music to ambient noise to calls and again primarily based on exercise.
“It’s greater than a product, it’s a way of life,” mentioned Maya Wasserman, Sony Electronics’ director of promoting for dwelling and private leisure. “It’s purported to be a product that stays with you all day.”
However what if Sony’s goal customers weren’t accustomed to having buds shoved of their ears for many of their waking hours and didn’t see how this product would change their minds? Enter Rodrigo, her producer Daniel Nigro and a bit audio tinkering.
After designing the LinkBuds S x Olivia Rodrigo out of reclaimed plastic and giving them a marble sample of her bespoke violet shade (so no two pairs look the identical), Rodrigo and Nigro got here up with customized preset equalizer settings for Sony’s Headphones Join app that they felt yielded the most effective listening high quality for each Guts and its previous album, 2021’s Bitter.
It didn’t matter that Rodrigo was signed to Common Music Group as an alternative of Sony Music (although she is a Sony Music Publishing shopper). Sony noticed a creator with a fervent fandom who not solely needed to connect her model to a product, however present the concepts that introduced it to life. When a model is promoting not solely a product however a shift in each day routine, dedication is the core of the marketing campaign.
“After we’re serious about Gen Z and find out how to join with that phase, there’s no higher voice of Gen Z than Olivia Rodrigo.. however it’s deeper than that,” mentioned Jordy Freed, director and head of private leisure model and enterprise improvement at Sony. “She’s very intentional about her artistic route and what she desires to do.”
