Led by a hero TV commercial shot on location in North London, Beats By Dre is leveraging its partnership with heavyweight Anthony Joshua ahead of his big world title fight with a campaign extending the Apple-owned brand’s ongoing ‘Be Heard’ marketing platform.
Adopting the headphone brand’s now well recognized signature style of matching a sports star to a new song, the flagship ad features the 27-year-old British boxer listening to music through his Beats headphones while running and training for the biggest fight of his career against Wladimir Klitschko on 29 April.
This spot, first posted on Beats’ YouTube channel on 24 April, is set to Michael Kiwanuka’s ‘Rule the World’ track from the English soul musician’s 2016 album ‘Love & Hate’.
The ad’s copy links the athlete ambassador and the music with the following line: ‘London made. Rule the World. With award winning sound to maintain Anthony Joshua’s focus he will #BEHEARD around the World on Fight Night.
The campaign spans Beats digital and social platforms including Twitter,
From the ground up. London’s own. @anthonyfjoshua will #BEHEARD #JoshuaKlitschko pic.twitter.com/j4lMzgqAJS
— Beats By Dre UK (@beatsbydreUK) April 24, 2017
Facebook,
and Instagram.
With further support on the boxer’s own platforms too
London Made. Rule The World. @beatsbydreUK #BEHEARD #JoshuaKlitschko pic.twitter.com/LJogAL2uAR
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyfjoshua) April 24, 2017
The ad’s ‘Rule the World’ track, by Michael Kiwanuka, can be accessed on Apple Music at beats.is/RuleTheWorld
In tandem with the beats campaign, on 18 April Joshua worked with parent company Apple Music when he dropped his ‘Knockout Playlist’ inspired by very own Ring Walk music.
As Joshua steps up his preparation for the heavyweight world title bout with Klitschko, one of the very last things he will decide upon will be his ring walk music for the fight.
Since making his 2013 professional debut, the Watford-born, Sheffield-trained and London-based fighter has walked to the ring to a string of knockout anthems from acts such as Jay-Z, Giggs and Stormzy.
Before deciding on his music for the Klitschko fight, Joshua teamed up with Apple Music to release a playlist inspired by the walk on songs he’s had so far.
It’s an eclectic mix spanning Jay Z & Kanye’s ‘Who Gon Stop Me’, to The Proclaimers ‘500 Miles’ and ‘Still D.R.E.’ by Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg.
The activation around the tie-up states that music is genuinely a key part of AJ’s preparation ahead of his fights.
Anthony Joshua’s ‘knockout playlist’ is available on Apple Music on the player below.
Activative Comment:
Joshua joins Beat’s extensive portfolio of athlete ambassadors which spans stars such as LeBron James, Serena Williams and Tom Brady.
But with just 9,502 YouTube views thus far, this spot has a long way to go before it matches up to the multiple million views and engagements racked up by previous Beats sports star fronted, big sports event campaigns – such as its Euro 2016 ‘[Match] Ready’ (see case study) and its 2015 Rugby World Cup ‘The Game Starts Here’ (see case study) campaign.
It was actually back in December 2016 Joshua featured in his first Beats advert, created by Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine, alongside an impressive, star-studded line-up of sports and entertainment stars ranging from Irish cage fighter Conor McGregor to Man City soccer star Kevin De Bruyne (see previous case study).
Links:
Beats by Dre
http://www.youtube.com/beatsbydre
http://www.facebook.com/beatsbydre/
http://twitter.com/beatsbydre/
http://www.instagram.com/beatsbydre/
https://plus.google.com/+beatsbydre
http://pinterest.com/beatsbydre/
Anthony Joshua
https://twitter.com/anthonyfjoshua
https://www.instagram.com/anthony_joshua/
https://www.facebook.com/anthonyjoshuaboxer/
