‘It’s hard to do’: Beats CMO on uniting product and marketing
As the headphone giant launches its “biggest” campaign to date, CMO and head of product Chris Thorne explains why the “best” ads showcase brand and product.
By Molly Innes
When a new campaign is launched, people in the industry often ask if it is a brand campaign or a product marketing campaign, but for Beats’ CMO and head of product, Chris Thorne, it shouldn’t be either/or.
“The best campaigns are the ones that do both,” he tells Marketing Week. They should combine “amazing storytelling” while putting the product, and its features and benefits, “at the heart of that story”.
While he admits it can be “really hard to do”, this dual focus on brand and product takes centre stage in Beats’ latest campaign for its in-ear headphones, Powerbeats Pro 2.
The best marketing campaigns “do amazing storytelling, but the product and its features and benefits are at the heart of that story,” Thorne tells Marketing Week. “And so that’s what we tried to do, and it’s really hard to do.”
