Athletes’ Loyalty to Branded Headphones Is Conundrum for IOC
Headphones were fodder for intense scrutiny in the social media world over the past week as viewers tried to discern which headphone brands athletes were promoting during warm-up sessions for the Olympics. Headphones were involved in some marketing politics within the International Olympic Committee (IOC), too, as officials became suspicious of the number of athletes from the U.K., China and other countries sporting Beats by Dr. Dre headphones in their national colors, according to a Reuters report.
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Beats set up a collection point outside Olympic Village where invited athletes could pick up high-end headphones, Reuters said. The New York Times reported that Beats created customized Union Jack headphones for many of the British Olympic athletes “ensuring that viewers of everything from swimming to tennis to gymnastics would get long, repeated looks at them on television.”
According to published reports, dozens of athletes engaged in a Twitter protest last week against the IOC’s Rule 40, which forbids athletes from mentioning their own sponsors during an Olympics and can lead to disqualification if breached. Despite the break from protocol -- athletes are forbidden from taking part in advertising for anyone except the 11 companies that pay roughly $100 million each for four years of global rights to sponsor the Olympics -- the IOC ruled Friday that Beats and the athletes it supplied did not breach guidelines, Reuters said. Beats didn’t respond by our deadline to questions regarding the issue.
Evidently Michael Phelps wasn’t so fortunate with the Sol Republic brand. Inside the Aquatics Centre Phelps turned his head each time he geared up for a race, giving spectators and the TV viewing audience a good look at his colorful Sol Republic headphones. Sol Republic’s differentiator is its “tracks” design that allows users to swap out what it calls tracks, or headbands, to mix up the color scheme when the mood strikes. Sol Republic CEO Kevin Lee, son of Monster founder Noel Lee, who was instrumental in the rise of the Beats by Dr. Dre headphone line that Monster manufactured for five years, told the Times he didn’t know Phelps would be wearing Sol Republic phones during the Olympics. He couldn’t have been too surprised, though, since the Portland Business Journal ran a story in late June about Phelps donning Sol Republic phones at Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb.
After Phelps had made numerous appearances wearing the Sol Republic phones, he appeared for his final swim at the Aquatic Centre wearing a hoodie covering his headset with the Sol Republic logo hidden by white tape, according to website Home Brew Audio that had been following Phelps’ tech accessory closely. Four days earlier, the same site reported that Phelps seemed to be changing his color bands for every swim. In addition, Phelps had slapped a Deadmau5 sticker on a headband, which the blogger pointed out was “another cool thing” that the phones could be customized with “writing and/or artwork … to further express your personality.” The website of DJ Deadmau5 has a Sol Republic ad on its splash page showing a doctored image of a cat overlaid with orange and yellow headphones with the label “the world’s first headphones for cats.”
Sol Republic President Scott Hix told us the company doesn’t have a formal agreement with Michael Phelps, but he was “thrilled” when he saw Phelps wearing the brand before each race. Regarding what happened prior to the last race when the logo was covered, Hix said he and Lee “weren’t privy to inside information.” He didn’t have a comment on the Beats decision by the IOC. Regarding the promotion with Deadmau5, Hix said more details will be available in a week or so and that proceeds will be donated to the ASPCA.
Olympics sponsor, Panasonic, meanwhile, apparently missed the boat on a headphone marketing opportunity. Panasonic didn’t respond by our deadline to questions about its response to the IOC decision on Beats
Beats by Dr. Dre continues to dominate the growing premium headphone market with roughly half of sales, according to Ben Arnold, analyst with NPD. The popularity of premium headphones, priced $100-plus, “has invited a host of competitors looking to emulate that success,” Arnold said. Sales of Beats competitors in the premium category are up 52 percent through the first half of this year compared with 2011, he said.