The Sony Extra Bass speaker allows you to truly feel the music. Sony were looking to launch this new product in New Zealand to a youth audience. The objective was to raise awareness, achieve a 50% increase in sales on the 2015 version and steal market share from the category leaders, Universal Ears.

A perception problem within the target audience of Sony being a ‘Dad brand’, making them unlikely to buy the speaker, was only one of the major barriers faced. This was coupled with a lack of belief that the bass was any better than what’s on the market. Adopting a social media approach was risky with limited budget as young people are watching a smaller percentage of content, so achieving cut through would be tough. Knowing also they were social media butterflies meant multiple platforms needed to be covered with the message.

With a limited budget, and based on the proposition: Sony’s Extra Bass portable speaker is so powerful you can feel it, Macy Baez, a young deaf dancer with whom the audience could emote was contracted to demonstrate the product in a unique and believable way. She dramatised the power of the extra bass, promoting it through a thumb-stopping music video, underpinned by the authentic story of feeling the music to fuel her moves.

Needing to get Macy’s emotional story to the audience and without big TV budgets (or an audience that watches much linear TV), reliance was placed on PR, social media, banners and search. There was no offer for the campaign; it was simply an awareness job.

It captivated the audience and resulted in a 319% uplift in sales and an 11% increase in perception of Sony being a cool brand.