• by Aaron Baar , August 31, 2016

While consumers can now experience music nearly everywhere, the trade-off has largely been for an inferior sound experience. Tinny speakers, Bluetooth interruptions or too many cords. 

in a new marketing campaign, wireless speaker maker Sonos says that tradeoff is no longer necessary. A new video commercial launching this week illustrates those frustrations, beginning with a scene from the film, “I Love You, Man” in which one character tries to introduce his girlfriend to the wonders of Rush’s anthem “The Spirit of Radio,” through his laptop’s inferior speakers. (She’s underwhelmed.)

The spot then cuts to vignettes of people attempting to grove to their smartphone speakers, shard earbuds, homemade plastic-cup-and-paper-tube speakers, and frustrations with Bluetooth connections (such as a call from “Mom” as a romantic song is playing in the bedroom). Onscreen text simply reads: “You’re better than this.”

“The tone of the campaign was very important to us,” Sonos chief marketing officer Joy Howard tells Marketing Daily. “Our goal was to poke fun at how we have all become willing to give up quality for convenience, or essentially cobble together a solution that is far from optimal. There are people all over the world listening to music like this right now, and they don’t have to.”

Sonos’ previous marketing efforts have included music luminaries such as Rick Rubin, Gary Clark Jr. and Q-Tip speaking about the importance of music in their lives and their homes. Other efforts have depicted sound visually moving through a home, either remaining apart in separate rooms or merging together to create a full sound. The new effort connects to those efforts by exploring how creators, consumers and fans all want to have a full music experience.

“The campaign is part of our larger brand conviction,” Howard says. “Everything filters back to simply caring about the way we experience music in our homes, and that all means caring about the ways we shortchange ourselves, as well.” 

The effort launches globally on Sept. 1, running across multiple media (print, online, out-of-home, TV, etc.) through the holidays, Howard says. The company will also launch a series of ‘micro spots’ online that will highlight other developments, such as the ability to voice control the speakers via Alexa-enabled devices and control directly through Spotify.