2020 Silver Best Use of Voice or Audio

22 Jan 2021

Agency: MullenLowe Open

Client: Sennheiser

Campaign Name: Sound Check

Campaign Overview

A vision of great sound

Sennheiser believed its edge is offering sublime sound experiences. But how could the brand prove it?

Strategy

Consumers can watch two TVs side by side and immediately see a difference in quality. Judging sound is not like that. Moreover, retail demo experiences are generally poor.

Premium sound quality comprises three crucial elements:

richness - hearing the whole frequency range
clarity - hearing the subtle detail
soundstage - feeling you're in the front row of the concert hall

How could audiophiles be shown Sennheiser’s superior listening experience?

Customer journey mapping revealed many consumers buy premium headphones like a novice selecting wine. Without the tools to judge good sound quality, their influences are emotional brand legacies or rational factors like price.

MullenLowe Open - working with Yeti Productions and Mediahub UK - created an audio experience to give potential customers the three crucial elements of top-tier sound.

Creativity

The team worked with Sennheiser and music composer and sound designer Tim Cowie to create a perfectly curated piece of music, Sound Check. It was the world's first audio track specifically designed to test the three elements, helping listeners understand what makes a quality sound experience and judge headphone performance.

Techniques such as air swooshes through the trombone were hidden within the track for listeners to discover. Mastering the track using Sennheiser's AMBEO technology added a unique soundstage that gave a sense of place to each instrument.

The campaign’s digital hub enabled consumers to listen to and download the track, watch a making-of documentary and find educational content.

MullenLowe Open partnered with c|net and VICE Media to maximises a budget of just £40,000, delivering unique content to catch the lockdown audience's attention.

Results

With two months of the campaign to run, engagement with the Sennheiser brand had increased to the tune of:
Media partnership launch significantly outperformed benchmarks; VICE article views 23% ahead of target; average dwell time three times higher than the VICE norm; impressions 73% ahead of target at 8.4 million
Total campaign reach of 4.1 million users, more than double the three-month target; five-month target reached by month three
Soundcheck documentary reached 23,000 unique users in the first fortnight, with a 25% view-through rate; 1,000 clicks to Sennheiser.com, four times the target
2,688 page views, bounce rate of just 24% versus industry standard 60%-plus
exceptional dwell time of 8 minutes 4 seconds versus Sennheiser.com average 1m 27s

The Team

Mullenlowe Open - Ben Knight, Executive Creative Director - Gavin Johnson, Creative - Miguel Monterio, Creative - Ed Lee, Managing Director - Louis Haskell, Account Director - Lucy Coleman, Account Manager - Natalie Chester, Strategy Director - Justyna Pospychalla, Strategy Director Mullenlowe London - Silvia Stella, Designer Mullenlowe Group/Yeti Productions - Zack Langsdon, Director - Elliot Dollie, Producer
Mediahub UK - Charlotte Edwards, Business Director - Daria Malyarova, Account Manager - Olivia Furniss-Roe, Media Planner Buyer Tim Cowie - Tim Cowie, Lead Sound - Amy May, Violin & Viola - Laura Reid, Cello - William Foster, Trombone - Tom Challenger, Tenor Saxophone Snap Studios - Marco Pasquariello, Recording Engineer Binary Feedback - Richard Hughes, Mastering Engineer

Contributors

Tim Cowie, Yeti Productions, Mediahub UK

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2020 Silver Best Use of Voice or Audio