Sony AR1 Loudspeakers
Crafting Belief
An ambitious speaker engineer at Sony crafted a nearly perfect pair of loudspeakers. The retail price? Over $20,000 a pair.
How could we convince hardcore audiophiles that Sony, a mainstream electronics brand, could create a pair of speakers that truly sounded like $20,000?
A combination of focused product storytelling, targeted public relations, and respected industry influencers did the trick.
Above is the first spread of the launch brochure. Click the image to access the full PDF. Photography and design by 2-Twelve Studios.
The Key Product Detail
I worked with the engineer who designed the speakers to identify the one detail that most succinctly told the product story.
We focused on the wood used to build the speakers. Some was specifically harvested in Hokkaido (only in winter!) and some was specifically harvested in Finland. Each, however, significantly contributed to the AR1’s stunning sound.
Focusing on this specific detail gave the press, dealers, and ourselves a memorable, idiosyncratic, and high-end story to tell when auditioning the speakers.
The Crucial PR Win
Landing a five star review and the cover of Stereophile, the leading audiophile publication in America, made significant waves across the industry and significantly impacted the acceptance of Sony in the super-high-end audio space.
I secured the review by traveling to New York with an audio engineer to set up the AR1s in the reviewer’s apartment, listen to some music with him, and answer any questions he had in person.
It was Sony’s first Stereophile cover in over a decade.
The Respected Industry Advocates
Lastly, I recruited four engineers who were well-known and highly credible within the audiophile community to help us tell the AR1 story.
They truly loved the speakers and were not shy about talking about them. It was critical that they were all true believers in the quality of the speakers as well Sony’s place in the super-high-end.
We visited each of them to enjoy the speakers before talking about how we could work together. We also gave them each a pair. Their contributions were invaluable, and some are still working directly with Sony today.
Industry-shaking Results
We launched the AR1s with ten hand-selected, highly-respected audiophile dealers across the United States, creating even more high-end credibility and buzz for the speakers and Sony.
In the first year, we easily outpaced our sales forecast.
Most important, the AR1s blazed the trail for a new series of successful, high-end Sony audio products that relied on the same publications, advocates, and dealers for credibility and sales.
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Need to launch that impossible product?