Olympic Beats go on
brands of companies that sponsor their national teams or themselves for the 3.5 years out of the Olympics. The IOC has got to relax.”
Targeting Olympic athletes i s i n line with the marketing strategies used since the Beats headphones were pioneered in 2006 by Dr. Dre in partnership with music producer and entrepreneur Jimmy Iovine of Interscope/Geffen/A&M Records.
Their joint company, Beats Electronics, ensured celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber and sports names such as LeBron James were spotted wearing the large headphones with the trademark “b” and the headphones often appear in music videos.
These celebrity endorsements helped spark a craze for the high performance and high price headphones, even in a sluggish economy.
Beats captured 53 per cent of the $1 billion headphone market
Dr. Dre.
Olympic athletes wearing the Beats by Dr. Dre headphones in London. in 2011, according to market researcher NPD Group. Beats sell for $210-$530 in the Westfield shopping centre next to the Olympic Park.
Athletes have used headphones and earphones ever since the advent of the Sony Walkman back in the late 1970s.
Sports psychologists say blocking out distractions can help athletes focus and get into “the zone” while listening to the right kind of music before a big race can also help psyche athletes up to go for gold.
A host of athletes arrived at their events in London sporting Beats, including British diver Tom Daley and Chinese gold medallist swimmer Sun Yang.
British footballer Jack Butland tweeted: “Loving my new GB Beats by Dre #TeamGB #Beats.”
This prompted a warning to British athletes.
The one official sponsor that makes headphones, Panasonic, had no comment to make on the Beats marketing campaign.
The Dr Dre campaign emerged as dozens of athletes launched a Twitter protest against the IOC’s Rule 40, which forbids competitors from mentioning their own sponsors during an Olympics and can lead to disqualification if breached.
US sprinter Manteo Mitchell summed up the view of many Olympians when he tweeted: “I am PROUD to represent my country ... But at the end of the day ... THIS IS MY JOB!!!!”
— Reuters