Making a hot splash with cool speakers
Launching a brand new product and gaining traction with fabulous 3D holographic content.
When the first ever talk movie was presented in a theatre, the sound of human voices was brought to the audience with speaker technology created by the engineers who went on to establish Altec Lansing. This was in 1927, the film was The Jazz Singer, and astounding as it was with a talkie back then, everything about technology and the way people use it has changed to something even more astonishing today.
From engineering movie theatre sound systems in the 1940’s and the professional musicians’ gear two decades later to the greatness of 80’s and 90’s superfast growth in consumer tech with audio solutions for cars and speakers for the upcoming concept of the personal computer, Altec Lansing has evolved alongside technology and consumers. But as the market expanded ever faster an increasing number of marketers and brand new types of products began competing fiercely for the attention of the end users.
This new and ever growing market led to Altec Lansing needing to do something extraordinary in order to stand out from everyone else and be recognized for their skills and excellence in speaker production. To do so the company came up with a strategy for a specific group of consumers having the time, the money, and also the high standards that Altec Lansing adhere to when making their speakers.
A new solution
Altec Lansing designed a product specifically for the new target audience, and at the annual CES Altec Lansing launched the ‘anythingproof’ Boomjacket speaker and also made heads turn with their choice of presentation for the brand new product.
The Boomjacket speaker is portable, you can connect it wirelessly to your phone as well as other devices, you can bring it to the beach or the park and you can go skiing with it without ever worrying about it getting wet or dirty. The speaker will even float if you drop it from your boat or jet ski, and oh yes, it has great sound, obviously. The new speaker was marketed toward an audience of primarily young and active people with outdoor lifestyles of sports and fun with friends.
THE LAUNCH
An amazing product deserves an equally amazing presentation and for the CES launch Altec Lansing contacted Realfiction partner PM Screen to make a spectacular product launch using 3D animated graphics to show off the qualities of the speaker and dazzle anyone who came by to learn more.
Three-dimensional images are a great way to spark an interest as the vivid motions and bright colours will grab the attention of passers-by simply because the human brain is prone to reacting to movement and curious to explore and learn more. When combined with a physical item relating to the images you make it look almost like magic and the effect of the holographic video becomes all the more strong.
In the end Altec Lansing and PM Screen chose a solution of having three Dreamocs side by side each with the Boomjacket speaker inside it and with the 3D video surging from one physical product to the next and back again showing the audience what the speaker is really made of. Vibrantly coloured ribbons swirled around one speaker and on to the others, circles illustrated the boom of the bass, and since the speaker is not only waterproof but also withstands shock and heat a video was created emphasizing just that.
At first the Boomjacket speaker appeared to catch fire as bright orange holographic flames engulfed it in the Dreamoc sending the fire onwards to the next two speakers in line. Following flames and heat a splash of water was poured on the speaker extinguishing the fire with clear and blueish streams and droplets all around and the flow of water consequently moving graciously to the other speakers seeming to make them fume while their fires went out as well illustrating the tough little speaker’s ability to resist water.
THE RESULTS
Retailers were invited to attend a pre-launch of the Boomjacket before the public ever saw the 3D boosted launch and it paid off. The holographic imagery was so compelling that American retail chain Best Buy decided to not only take the Boomjacket speaker into their shops and onto their shelves, but also to get the incredible presentation devices along with the products. Best Buy ended up ordering 200 Dreamocs to be placed in their stores across the US to wow their customers and move the product off the shelves and into their lives.
The Best Buy campaign was such a huge success that a mere four months later the retail chain contacted Realfiction asking to purchase yet another 400 Dreamocs as the three-dimensional showcases were a hit to the extent that stores without them heard about it and, wanting to experience the same and be a part of the massive success, asked for more, and now Best Buy has 600 Dreamocs rotating throughout all of their stores making the experience of buying a portable speaker even better.
Standing in an appliance store gazing at all the different types and varieties of speakers and seeing cardboard cutouts, TV screens and tech specs on laminated sheets of paper, the 3D holographic presentation of the Boomjacket makes a big impact. The easily decoded and flashy video surrounding the speaker leaves a great impression on any customer looking for something exclusive as well as sturdy to take with them on the go without giving up on the quality of sound. The Boomjacket and the three-dimensional attention grabber has helped Altec Lansing back to the top of mind of music lovers and has allowed them to reconquer a large part of the market