The campaign to introduce Sennheiser’s new Urbanite headphone included live engagement through a citywide hunt for 1,500 “Golden Ears.” The Golden Ears were placed in physical locations throughout NYC and London, and they could be redeemed for free $200 headphones at our pop-up store, “The Ear Love Palace.” This in turn also served as an engagement, trial and purchase point for passersby, as well as an entry point into The Hunt for the Golden Ears.

Digital videos were seeded online through media partners, pre-roll and social media. A microsite, which was optimized for mobile, allowed users to share our videos socially in exchange for a Golden Ear location, and an Instagram user-generated content contest asked users to submit creative “Ear Selfies,” with the 10 sexiest each day receiving free headphones.

We were asked to launch the new Urbanite headphones from Sennheiser, a premium German brand well-known among audiophiles but pretty much completely unknown among our target: millennials.

Also, we were set to go up against Beats by Dre, with approximately one kabillionth their budget, which meant we weren’t going to outspend and out-cool a category full of richer competitors already trying to out-cool each other.

So our strategy was pretty straightforward: get the cool kids talking for us. Which meant we needed to do two things: make content they were willing to share and reward those who did.

• ~180,000 landing page visits, 142,000+ unique visitors…403% of campaign goal

• ~70,000 Twitter engagements, 170% of campaign goal

• ~4.4MM Twitter impressions

• Over 332MM total impressions

• Over 2.5MM total video views, a 105% jump in Sennheiser’s total brand video views growth

• 4,500+ Instagram submissions, Sennheiser’s largest-ever sourcing of user-generated content

• Pop-up stores: 8,500 walk-in visitors and over 1,400 headphones distributed

• Among Adweek’s “Brands Scoring Big in Social Media”

• Media coverage included Time, Mashable, Fast Company, New York Daily News, Design Taxi

• Reached front page of Reddit Videos

• Reached incremental unit sales goals

The creative idea turned Sennheiser’s authentic passion for headphones into a strange, insatiable love of ears.

Digital and mobile placements on The FADER and VICE, both millennial-trusted properties, introduced The Urbanite as a character whose love for ears is unparalleled in videos where he seduced ears with tender massages, candlelit bubble baths and endless pampering.

Communications drove viewers to a microsite that served as the campaign’s digital hub. The Urbanite invited millennials in NYC and London to hunt for 1,500 “Golden Ears” hidden in targeted hot spots (music shops, fashion boutiques), each redeemable for a free pair of headphones. To get the location of a Golden Ear, users shared one of the videos from our microsite on Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr. On Instagram, we used ears as media, and requested “Ear Selfies” for a chance to win a pair of Urbanite headphones. Ten winners were chosen each day.