INSIGHT

As smartphone usage continues to increase in Japan, more and more people are listening to music through their smartphone devices. However, the majority use default earphones that come with their handsets. How can we influence consumers to switch to Sony headphones for a higher quality music experience.

IDEA

The ‘Headphone Music Festival’ is the world's very first virtual music festival using Sony's proprietary 3D augmented reality technology, ‘SmartAR’. We created original live AR videos with four best-selling local rock groups. People were able to 'attend' the festival via their smartphones on the streets of Tokyo, various retail outlets such as ‘Beams’ and electronic stores across the country. At each venue, we offered a free trial of Sony's latest headphones.

IMPACT

We earned approximately 1 million USD worth of free publicity and attracted over 460,000 fans during the festival period. The feature product MDR-1 became the number 1 selling headphone on kakaku.com, Japan's leading price comparison e-commerce site in January 2013.