If asking someone on campus to see whether they now Beats or not, the answer mostly will be yes, while asking if they know Sennheiser, AKG, or Beyerdynamic, most of them probably have no idea about those brands.
That is wired. Because in headphones industry, Sennheriser and AKG and Beyerdynamic all have high reputation for those technologies applied in their products and perfect sounds, while Beats is famous for its bad sounds. But the case is that, according to statistics, Beats owns 64% of the market with headphones cost more than $100 in headphones industry. So how can Beats become so successful even though their products are really bad.
The truth is that Beats wins the game of “Perceived Value”. Beats headphones always make people feel it is worth to pay that much of money. Unlike other headphone companies, Beats invests huge amount of money of product design, packaging, and advertising. Before Beats, there was no such a thing that a musician endorsing audio products. Beats was the first one using this strategy. They paid lots of money letting singers wearing their products in their MV, in performances, and in public events. There are also tons of athletes like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. That significantly spread the name of Beats. As a result, young people, which are their main target customers, are willing to pay that much of money because they see their favorite stars also wear the same products. The more they think it is worth to pay, the more willing they are to purchase the products. That’s why Beats win the competition among those other headphone companies.
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