Could Beats by Dre have possibly hoped for a better result than what it’s received in terms of marketing over the past few weeks? First off, the high-end headphone company got a huge boost by having the San Francisco 49ers win their divisional playoff game to set up a meeting with the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game. Their most notable endorser in the NFL to that point was 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Kaepernick has made the headphones a huge part of his pre and post-game ensemble. The company received extra publicity after Kaepernick was criticized for his style of dress following the Niners’ playoff win over the Carolina Panthers, where he had a backwards cap on and the headphones around his neck. Though Kaepernick was called out for looking unprofessional, he was defended by his coach.
Jim Harbaugh gave Beats by Dre a nice plug when he said he liked the commercial and that it accurately portrayed the environment for a road team arriving to a visitor’s stadium.
As if all the publicity from the 49ers/Kaepernick/Harbaugh wasn’t enough, the company got a second major boost from Richard Sherman. Beats by Dre dropped the Richard Sherman commercial last week on the day of the NFC Championship Game. And what happened? Sherman made the play of the game and then became the biggest story of the week after going on his postgame rant. Fast forward a week later, and Sherman, who will now be one of the most well known players playing in the big game, is a central part of Beats By Dre’s marketing plan. Things seriously could not have worked out better.
You see a lot of companies essentially put bets down on teams or players when they do marketing campaigns. Think about State Farm and their Aaron Rodgers commercials. They’re hoping that the Green Bay Packers will continue winning throughout the playoffs, because that makes Rodgers more influential as a spokesman/representative. When the Packers lose in the first round of the playoffs, it hurts them because we’re now seeing commercials for a player sitting at home.
But with Beats by Dre, they absolutely hit the lottery. And what reminded me of this is that Beats has a big ad campaign up on ESPN.com. Who’s better than Sherman right now to advertise a product with an edge? He’s the perfect guy, and he’s certainly someone who makes you pay attention. His commercial, which is centered around him using his headphones to block out the media, could not be more relevant.
