Strategic Marketing Planning Process – Beats

Beats Electronics, LLC was founded in 2006 by Andre Young, a.k.a. Dr. Dre, and Jimmy Lovine, former chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M Records. The company headquarters in Santa Monica, California and has about 150 employees. Their products range from high quality headphones to HD stereo systems and their digital music service “MOG”. Their first product, Beats by Dr. Dre Studio Headphones, came out in 2008. Until the end of 2012 their products will be manufactured by Monster Cable. Beats has partnerships with HP, HTC Mobile, and the Chrysler Group. According to Dr. Dre, the strategic aim of launching their business and introducing their products was to let the consumer hear what the professionals hear because there are too many poor-quality headphones out on the market.

Profits by Dr. Dre
Beats Electronics has reported revenues of $500 million in 2011, while capturing about 25 % of the headphone market worldwide selling 1.5 million headphones. Besides their own sales the company profits from their partnerships with HTC, HP, and Chrysler, all of which are licensed to use Beats technology in their products. While Chrysler installed 10-speaker system in one of their car models, HTC and HP have them integrated in their electronic products. Quickly rising profits are caused by celebrity endorsements by themselves and others, partly by the quality of their products.

4 P’s
ProductBeats Headphones | PromotionTV commercials, Sponsorships, Public Relations, Online| Price$200 – $600| PlaceBeats’ Store, Online Store, Electronics Retailers|

USP
Beats’ unique selling proposition comes with offering their consumers a product professionals use, such as Dr. Dre, Jimmy Lovine, and other known musicians.

SWOT – Analysis

Brand Attributes, Brand Voice
Brand attributes of Beats headphones communicated are superior sound quality, durability, and integrated microphone. The brand voice is very strong since already integrated in the brand name. It is publicly worn and represented by Dr. Dre himself and Jimmy Lovine, as well as other celebrity endorsers such as P. Diddy, Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga, David Guetta, Justin Bieber, LeBron James, and Will.I.Am.

Current traditional media
“Colors” was an ambush marketing campaign in which Beats gave free headphones to top athletes of the Olympic Games 2012, which were then seen wearing them on TV. While the legislative institutions governing the event saw it negatively they created quite a buzz among consumers. “What will you be” campaign was aired on national TV in the U.S. and the UK. It shows Lil Wayne and LeBron James with other actors presenting the HD Solo headphones in different colors. It is part of the global “Colors” campaign.