Product: Ear buds

Link: https://www.cnet.com/news/best-true-wireless-earbuds-in-2020-apple-airpods-pro-jabra-elite-sony-more/

1. How does this product fit into American culture?

A. Like many other Americans, I now wear AirPods all day at my desk to combat the awful
tyranny of the open office. Since they don’t cancel noise, they provide me with writing music
while allowing me to listen up for my bosses. I don’t like exercise classes and their preselected,
generic playlists, so instead I work out with headphones and listen to my own special running
mix, the contents of which can be disclosed only upon my death. (Let’s just say the dream of
the ’90s is alive on my Spotify.) I like to listen to podcasts while I cook, so the earbuds come in
handy while I chop and sauté. And I can hook up headphones to a Roku when I want to watch a
depressing foreign TV show and my boyfriend wants to do literally anything else.

In terms of sheer numbers sold, Apple's AirPods have dominated the market for true wireless
earbuds for the past few years. But plenty of new models have come on the scene that deliver
better sound and improved battery life and performance. Now there are many appealing totally
wireless earbuds to choose from -- with even more on the way.

We've got lists of the best-sounding true wireless earbuds and the best cheap true wireless
earbuds. This list is, simply, the best true wireless earbuds. Remember that to get optimal
performance, wireless earbuds need to feel comfortable, with an ergonomic design.

What is its SYMBOLIC VALUE?

Anyone who has recently spent time in a public space—traversing the aisle of an airplane, say,
lurching toward your seat adjacent to the toilet, trying to shift your backpack without
thwapping a fellow traveller on the forehead—has likely noticed the sudden and extraordinary
ubiquity of headphones. “Do people really like music this much?” I have wondered,
incredulously, while tallying endless white earplugs. The outside world, once a shared auditory
environment, has been effectively fractured. We now lilt about in our own bubbles of self-
programmed sound. They need to fit right, with a tight earbud seal. If you can't get a snug
earbud fit with in-ear headphones, you'll be sadly disappointed and think you got ripped off,
which is why I suggest buying your pair of wireless earbuds from a vendor with a decent return
policy, such as Amazon. We'll update this list regularly as we review new products.

Could it be an artifact in a CULTURAL RITUAL, and what is its significance?

Certainly, headphones are an obvious method of exercising autonomy, control—choosing what

you’ll hear and when, rather than gamely enduring whatever the environment might inflict
upon you. In that way, they are defensive; users insist upon privacy (you can’t hear what I hear,
and I can’t hear you) in otherwise lawless and unpredictable spaces. Should we think of
headphones, then, as just another emblem of catastrophic social decline, a tool that edges us
even deeper into narcissism, solipsism, vast unsociability? Another signifier of that most plainly
American ideology: independence at any cost?

It turns out that observers have been fretting about headphones—and the disconnection they
facilitate—for decades. Early Walkman prototypes included a second headphone jack so you
could share your tunes with a buddy; Sony C.E.O. Akio Morita later admitted that he “thought it
would be considered rude for one person to be listening to his music in isolation.”

What basic American cultural values might motivate consumers to buy this product, and
why?

In 1981, just two years after the Walkman was introduced to the U.S. market (at two hundred
dollars, it was an upper-middle-class indulgence), a Times writer described the view on the
streets: “Suddenly, waves of people were walking about with little foam-rubber circles on their
ears and expressions of transport on their faces in a scene that was almost Orwellian.” Another
story, from 1980, described a man having to sell his Walkman to save his marriage: “ ‘My wife
insisted that I was tuning her out for reggae,’ he said sadly.” In 1999, in an article
commemorating the Walkman’s twentieth anniversary, the reporter Phil Patton wrote, “The
Walkman and its rivals quickly became a landmark in the history of media and a symbol of an
inwardly focused era.”

One of the more interesting revelations included in the Sol Republic survey is the news that
empowerment anthems—like Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” Katy Perry’s “Roar,” Kanye West’s
“Stronger,” and (no joke) the “Chariots of Fire” theme—are especially popular among
headphone devotees. People like to stomp around to jams that instantly position them as
scrappy and determined underdogs, overcoming tremendous odds. (The original music video
for “Eye of the Tiger” features the members of Survivor marching down the street in combat
formation, their collective gaze unblinking, their strides assured; it turns out they’re simply
walking to band practice in a garage.) These days, people seem to be perpetually gearing
themselves up for the epic battle of merely existing. At the end of the day, jogging up to our
front doors, we are all Rocky, reaching the summit, conquering that last step: “Just a man / and
his will / to survive!” We rip our headphones off, triumphantly.

2. How would this product be viewed differently by various subcultures in the USA. Would
some subcultures buy it for a different reason, or use it in a different way, than other
subcultures?

As more and more people choose to listen to music on headphones—and we are now nearly
forty years deep into portable audio; I have a friend who claims he only listens to music on
headphones—it seems silly not to wonder how that technology might be beginning to dictate
content. If headphones allow for more introspection, do headphone users favor introspective
sounds? If there’s been a thematic through line in the past several years of pop music, it’s been
messages of self-reliance and liberation, songs that place us at the center of our own heroic
arcs. Obviously, that’s hardly new terrain for pop, but I’d argue that it has reached a noticeable
apex this decade. Are headphones partially responsible for the shift?

I wondered, too, about writers like Kanye West and Drake, two of the most critically and
commercially successful rappers of our time, both prone to bald confessionalism. Drake’s album
“Views,” released earlier this year, is fat with hyper-emotional asides. “Why you gotta fight with
me at Cheesecake? / You know I love to go there,” he pleads in “Child’s Play.” Drake is not an
un-self-aware figure—when he refers to enjoying a meal at the Cheesecake Factory, he is doing
so with deep knowledge of his audience, and of what they find funny, and of what they find real
—but a lyric like that is still revelatory, intimate, pure. It is precisely the kind of embarrassing
thing we shout at the people closest to us right when we are at our most vulnerable; it is a
sentiment intended for an audience of one.

For your answer, consider subcultures based on ethnicity and race, geography, age and
gender.

Regardless of whether that intimacy is performative, it is, at the very least, magnified by the
cocoon of headphones. In that moment, it’s you and Drake, alone—telling secrets, admitting
frailty. “You know I love to go there.”

When asked the Grammy-winning record producer Bob Power—who produced Erykah Badu’s
“On and On” and D’Angelo’s “Brown Sugar,” and recorded A Tribe Called Quest’s first three
albums—how hearing music through headphones technically varies from hearing it on an in-
room stereo of some sort, he pointed out three differences (though all playback systems, he
acknowledged, have their own sonic anomalies). The first is a heightened sense of the stereo
field, as the left and right signals aren’t as intermingled as they would be via speakers
connected to a receiver. (Some audiophiles will argue for the superiority—the more coherent
feel—of mono sound, in which the channels aren’t separated out at all.) The second has to do
with how extreme frequencies are rendered: “Because the bass and treble areas are hard to
reproduce accurately, factory earbuds will often sound harsh, emphasizing the mid-range and
upper mid-range. This is not necessarily because they are actively boosting the signal in those
areas; it’s often because they are not handling the rest of the signal—the highs and lows—very
well,” he explained. Finally—and most important—he noted “a sense of being closer to the
music, usually referred to as presence. Even if the track has a lot of ambience, it will appear
closer to the listener—[it’s] literally right in their ear.”
3. Consider the bases of market segmentation for your product. Discuss how the market
might be segmented along each of the following lines: geographic, demographic,
psychological, psychographic, socio cultural, use-related, use situation, benefit.

A. “Headphones—which are mostly what you see on the street—computer speakers, and small
Bluetooth speakers have changed a great deal of what we do in the mixing and mastering
stages of record production,” he wrote in an e-mail recently. “While good mixers have always
switched on a single summed mono speaker to check important individual levels in a mix, we
didn’t listen small to judge impact and visceral reaction. In a way, now we do.” He continued,
“Headphone checks used to be just that, checks. But now I spend more and more mix-time on
headphones, knowing that a huge portion of the audience will be doing the same. Along with
greater ear fatigue on my part, a direct result of this reality is a stronger limiting of dynamic
range, and a more deliberate limiting of the overall frequency bandwidth. We have to provide
music that will translate within the limitations of earbuds, small speakers. Less dynamics
essentially makes listeners perceive the song's sound as loud and present.”

Ambling down a city street with headphones on—you know, maybe it’s dusk, maybe it’s
midsummer, maybe you had a really nice day—is, without a doubt, one of life’s simplest and
most perfect joys. Humans have long enjoyed secret communions with sound, and headphones
allow for the development of a particularly private and tender relationship. How headphones’
sudden omnipresence might affect the ways in which musicians attempt to communicate with
their audiences—how it might dictate what people require of or appreciate about songs; how it
will change the way records are made and produced—is, of course, still being sorted out. It
seems possible, though, that we are slowly reconfiguring music as a private pleasure—that, in
fact, all pleasures, soon, may be private. We are all the lone stars of secret films, narrated by
and in our own minds, and we seek out music that validates that position: separate, but forever
plugged in.

Which factors are the most critical? How would you segment the market if you were in charge
of marketing?

Earphones are a pair of small hearing devices that are designed to be fitted in a user's ears,
facing the ear canal. They are electro acoustic transducers through which the electrical signal is
converted into a corresponding sound. They are typically designed to enable a single user to
listen to an audio privately, unlike the loudspeakers, which produces sound in open air, for
anyone to hear nearby. Earphones are portable device and are convenient, however some
people consider them uncomfortable and prone to falling out. The earphones consist of
separate units that are plugged into the ear canal of the users. In the terms of
telecommunication, a headset is a combination of earphone/headphone and microphone. They
either connect directly to an audio amplifier, CD player, radio, portable media player, mobile
phone, electronic musical instrument, video game consoles or use wireless bluetooth
technology. Earphone consists of different audio imitation quality capabilities. The headsets
used for telephone cannot reproduce sound with highly reliable expensive units that are
designed for listening music.

Using earphones at a high volume level may lead to permanent or temporary hearing damage
or deafness. The sound volume has to compete with nearby background noise, especially in
places such as subway, railway stations, aircraft, as well as in large crowds. Some portable
music devices manufacturers have tried to introduce safety circuits in order to limit the output
volume and warn the user when the volume used is at dangerous level. However, this concept
has been rejected by majority of public who favor their personal choice of volume

4. Considering the elements that might accelerate the diffusion of your new product, which
does the product have, and which are lacking?

There is no such thing, which accelerate the diffusion of new products. Earphones exhibit high
consumer adoption rate during workouts, travelling, etc. which has escalated their demand in the recent
years. Other factors such as rising disposable income, products integrated with enhanced noise
annulment capabilities may swell the earphones market demand during the forecast period. Further,
earphone market is composed for high growth owing to its short replacement cycle, which is attributed
to growing consumer needs, functionalities and loss or damage. The use of portable music systems, such
as tablets, smartphones and handheld music players, is significantly growing in the market which in turn,
is driving the market for earphones currently. In the recent years, various technological advancements in
earphones have led to minimizing of the overall size and weight of earphones. The key developments in
wireless technologies such as bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Infrared (IR) and SKAA are expected to further increase
the growth of the earphone market. The demand for earphones is strong in corporate sector, mainly in
the expanding call center industry. The growing adoption of VOIP services for video conferencing is also
behind the increasing demand for earphones from the corporate sector. Proliferation of various e-
commerce websites, along with competitive pricing is further anticipated to swell the sales of earphones
via online store during the coming years.

The major participants in the global earphone market include companies such as JVC
Corporation, Sony Corporation, Sennheiser Electronic GmbH & Co. KG, Bose Corporation, Apple
Inc., Harman International Industries, GN Netcom A/S (Jabra), Plantronics Pty Ltd., Audio-
Technica Corporation, and Philips Electronics Ltd. 

How can you overcome the deficiencies with marketing?

No entrepreneur has a perfect first marketing campaign. Even if you’re experienced as a

marketer or entrepreneur, you can’t really dial things in until you have data to inform your
campaign.

So let’s say you have a marketing strategy that’s, for the most part, “failing.” You aren’t seeing
the results you predicted, and from what you can tell, your return on investment (ROI) is either
negligible or negative. I’m going to assume that this isn’t just a gut feeling or an early reaction,
either -- you’ve looked up the hard numbers, and can objectively demonstrate that your
marketing strategy isn’t working the way you’d hoped.

You don’t want to abandon your strategy altogether, so what can you do to correct it?

1. Give it more time.

First, I want to acknowledge that some strategies—like SEO—take a long time to start paying
off. If you’re investing in your brand image, or if you’re relying on inbound channels of traffic to
bring you more customers, don’t get discouraged after only a few weeks of effort.

On the other hand, some strategies -- like PPC advertising -- should start working immediately
and improve over time as you make adjustments based on the data. If you’re working on a
long-term strategy, consider giving your campaign more time to develop. Otherwise, try one of
the approaches below.

2. Differentiate it.

The marketing world is a competitive one, especially in popular realms like content marketing
and social media. There are thousands of brands competing for your target audience’s
attention, so what makes your strategy unique? If you’re saying the same things that your
competitors are saying, or if your design blends in as background noise, your campaign is going
to falter. Correct this by saying something unique that only your brand could say. Sometimes,
it’s the only way to cut through the noise.

5. Describe the innovators (first buyers) for this product.

Surprisingly, not everyone wants to hear our music. When we were pumping our LCD Sound
system mix tape, others in the office said they couldn’t “concentrate” and they “wished we
were fired.” For this, and for many other reasons, headphones are an absolute necessity in our
daily lives. It was long before Steve Jobs produced white earbuds and Dr. Dre jumped in the
game, however, that people began getting tunes pumped into their ear canal. Here’s basically
how it all went down.

1881 – Way before MP3s, dubstep and premium Spotify accounts, headphones had little to do
with music at all. Back in the 1880’s, the first headphones (or at least their early ancestors)
were used by telephone operators. It was a single earpiece that rested on the user’s shoulder
and weighed over 10 pounds (kinda like placing a boombox on your shoulder).
Who are they in terms of demographics, personality traits, purchase and consumption
characteristics, media habits?

Designed to cover your ears, headphones are noted for their comfort and quality on-the-go
quotient. When you want a portable audio device that provides a wholesome feel - as opposed
to earphones - a set of headphones are what you need. Earphones are a different kind of device
which are designed to be directly placed on the outer ear. In-ear monitors (IEMs) are similar
audio systems which are made to be placed directly in the ear canal.

Headphones offer a comfortable and spacious feel over the ear, as opposed to earbuds and
IEMs. The sounds produced in headphones are of a superior quality. Using a good pair of
headphones, you can achieve a fine balance between the highs, mids, and the lows, resulting in
a rich reproduction of sound. Well-built headphones have a passive noise cancellation ability,
and cancel unnecessary ambient noise in the background. Headphones themselves come in
different variants to begin with.

What key obstacles will need to be overcome in order to market the product to them?

1-Driver Diameter: It is the diameter of the speaker driver unit inside your earplug. The bigger
the driver size, the wider range of frequencies it would be able to reproduce evenly. So bigger
driver size is better. Generally driver sizes range from 9-16 mm in earphones. If you are into
EDM, Then 14/15/16mm is perfect for you. But if you do not like electronic music, and if you
are more of an acoustic lover, then 14 mm is the outer limit for your driver size

2-Impedance: Lower the impedance, better it is (generally). Generally, earphones have either
impedance ranging from 12 ohms to 35 ohms. Now it also depends on your phone. Most of the
phones nowadays have 12 ohms impedance or even adjustable impedance. But some old
phones have 32 Ohms impedance. using 12 ohms Earphones for a 16 ohms compatible device
may damage the device over time. Using 32 ohms earphones for 16 ohms devices is not a
problem.

3-Noise Isolation/Cancellation?: This is an additional feature you would like to have. But not
having this doesn't make a earphone nice or bad. But nevertheless, most of the earphones are
noise isolation earphones. Noise cancellation ones are more expensive.

4-Type of Connector: Almost all earphoGold connectors make better quality as they are better
conductors. The order from best to worst is Gold, Chrome, Bronze, Stainless steel.nes have
3.5mm connectors. Some are steel, some are bronze, some are chrome, some are gold.

6. Develop a model of motivation for this product that specifically describes the nature of the
needs, tension, drive, behavior and goal-seeking on the part of the consumer. Address the
issues of primary versus secondary needs, generic versus product-specific goals, positive
versus negative motivation, rational versus emotional motives, and how Maslow's hierarchy
fits into your framework.

Having started my own headphones business and studying nothing but the engineering behind
headphones for the last year and a half, here is my recommendation:
99% of headphone consumers know nothing about characteristics or specifications. They don't
need to. In reality, the people making them don't even need to. Most brands come out with the
same specs year after year.
What is important is how you think they feel and sound. Judge by trying every pair on at the
store.

 How do they feel?

 Could you wear them for a long time?

Acoustics and the setup of the speaker driver casing will make a noticeable difference (highly
subjective). In reality we're all just consumers trying to understand how the big boys play right?
Audiophiles listen to thousand dollar pairs that are plugged into amps. Ignore their opinions.

7. Considering personality trait theory, what specific personality traits would be of interest to
you and why? Give one example of how you might go about measuring one of these traits.

Good combination bass & treble— You must check this, because if earphones are only treble
loaded then you can’t hear more than 5 minutes. It irritates you. Earphones must provide
excellent combination of bass & treble.

Sound quality—You should check the clearity of the sound.

Build quality of the earphones—Examining build quality means is the earphone durable ?

Wire should be tangle free—Very few earphones provides tangle free wire. Tangle free wire
increase the life of earphones.

Microphone provided or not— Without mic you’ll not be able use earphones for calling
purpose. If you like to use earphones for calling, you should buy earphones with mic.

Should the marketing campaign for the product incorporate the idea of a personality for this
product? If so, what traits should it have, and how would you go about communicating them
to the target market?

No, there are many specs you observe, but to recommend you a pair, I'd have to know what
you're looking for as far as purpose and use-setting.

Stats to look at:

Frequency Response: The Khz range of sonic audio your headphones can represent. A good
range is about 18-24.

Impedance: A measurement in ohms that is relatively low on headphones. This will make audio
on the headphones sound loud when the input voltage, from say a laptop headphone jack is
low (unlike a home theatre system). A typical good impedance is 32 ohms. Your milage may
vary as far as preference on this topic.

Driver Type (open-air vs. closed): This indicates the headphone style. Open-air headphones are
like having ultra high-end, small speakers very close to your ears that have no sound isolation. If
you crank the music up to medium or high volume, those around you will hear your music (like
in an office setting). It is believed (and naturally disputed) by audiophiles that open-air is
superior because it does not muffle the sound as much as closed headphones, but your
purposes indicate the need for this feature moreso than the sound quality resulting. I
personally recommend open-air for the best audio experience.

8. Given the target market, how should the product be perceptually positioned against its
competition?

The pervasive trend from ‘wired to wireless’ earphone and headphone - integrated with
Bluetooth technology - is evident, as the battery technology advances and USB-C becomes the
new charging standard. Demand for advanced quality wireless earphone and headphone will
only increase, as cities grow larger, commutes become longer, and podcasting networks
translate into self-sustaining businesses. Consumers continue to show a marked preference for
distributor & value added resellers for earphone and headphone purchases. Gains from retail
stores and ecommerce platforms also remain significant, with sales in latter growing at
relatively faster rate. Stakeholders in the earphone and headphone are currently inclined
toward product diversification, to improve brand value and identity. The market players are
directing their focus toward high potential of developing nations, which has further led them
increase their presence on online channels, even as making collaborations with established
regional suppliers.

9. How does cognitive learning theory apply to the marketing of your new product? Of
particular concern are issues related to encoding, retention, retrieval, interference effects,
involvement, and routes to persuasion.

 Advances in audio technology, along with capabilities to cancel unwanted noise,

eliminate sound leakage, and control ambient sound is increasing the share of on-ear
headphones. These devices have large earpads and cover the user's ear, locking in the
sound and increasing air displacement, thereby resulting in better audio and perceived
soundstage.
  The demand for smart headphones has grown in recent years as an increasing number
of consumers focusing on product aesthetics. Major application sectors such as
entertainment and sports have witnessed a high adoption since 2016.

 The growing demand for ANC in several audio settings, including hearing protection
products and protective communication devices, is driving the transition of ANC
headphones into the hearables segment that includes headphones, hearing
augmentation solutions, and commercial headsets. In terms of revenues, noise
isolations earphones account for a share of over 52% of the global market revenue.

 The growing music industry and the increasing popularity of rapping have a positive
effect on the adoption of headphones, particularly those endorsed by singers and
celebrities. The manufacturers are collaborating with several music artists to launch
specifically designed headphone editions, which are likely to drive the pro headphones
market.

Market Segmentation by Type

 Over-ear

 In-ear

 On-ear

 Market Segmentation by Technology 

 Wired

 Wireless

 True Wireless

 Market Segmentation by Features 

 Smart

 Non-smart

 Market Segmentation by Price Range 

 Premium

 Moderate

 Low

 Market Segmentation by End-users

 Entertainment
  Sports

 Gaming

Market Segmentation by Noise Attenuation 

 ANC

 Noise Isolation

 No Attenuation

 Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel

 Offline

 Online

Earphones and Headphones Market – Dynamics

Advancements in the development of wireless headphones by vendors have prompted future

disruptions after smart and mobile devices in the industry. The success of smart wearables has
presented a unique viewpoint to vendors as the time taken to bridge the chasm between early
adopters and early majority consumers (larger market size) is lesser than expected. Presenting a
newer perspective, the adoption of smart watches and other wearables has fueled market
opportunities for smart hearables.  As a majority of smart devices need a headphone to
complete their function cycle, smart headphones have capabilities to be at the center of the
user's connected world. The focus on the improved build quality and integration of real-time
problem-solving technologies push headphones into the premium priced category.  The
headphone industry is incredibly competitive, both from manufacturers and consumer side,
and this competitiveness translates to a high influx of expensive purchases, thereby propelling
the growth of smart headphones.

Key Drivers and Trends fueling Market Growth:

 Transition of Smart Wireless Headphones into Hearables

 Value-added Features to Become Standard

 Rising Demand from Fitness Enthusiasts driving Sports Models

 Rising Awareness About Hearing Ailments & NIHL Driving ANC Segment

Earphones and Headphones Market – Geography

The US is a leading market in North America. Millennials majorly drive the market, and they can
be termed as digital generation. They are tech-savvy, and most of them are addicted to their
smartphones. The number of millennials is the largest working force not only in the US but also
in Canada. In Canada, 37% of the total workforce comprised millennials. Even the growing
number of internet users and the increasing number of music-based mobile applications are
driving the market in the region.  With the increasing use of headphones as fashion accessories,
the market is experiencing tremendous growth. This is driving the popularity and acceptance of
headphones, especially among consumers engaged in fitness and sports activities as well as
audiophiles. The high average disposable income among the population, the proliferation of
smartphones, and manufacture of headphones with advanced features are the main factors
that are expected to fuel market growth in terms of shipments and sales in this region.