Any given year at CES, you’re bound to see a ton of repetition: every other booth has a tablet, 3D TV or ultrabook to show off. This goes double for some gadgets in particular: sometimes it seems like all it takes is a big booth, a fancy font and a few booth babes to sell headphones.
So how do you differentiate your headphone brand from the masses? Show, don’t tell. It’s not enough to say “Our headphones are good:” you have to demonstrate that they sound better. Better yet? Be like Able Planet and have the reader choose yours.
This year, Able Planet came to CES with some lofty ambitions: not just say or show that their headphones are better than the others, but to have the listeners choose themselves.
To promote their new products, Able Planet invited CES-goers to test out two pairs of headphones: one pair from their own line of noise-canceling, high-fidelity headphones, and one pair from an “unnamed competitor.” Users would then select which headphones sounded better: Able Planet or the “other guys.”
To make the results legitimate, Able Planet unboxed both sets of headphones at the same time, played the same song on the same device, and taped down volume switches.
The company even invited Spike TV to broadcast two real results live on television. Talk about having faith in your brand! Both times, Able Planet won out over the competing company’s headphones.
In addition to the Hear the Difference challenge, Able Planet brought along a few pairs of headphones – some old, some new – to show off at CES. The Clear Harmony – NC 1050 – are the company’s new flagship product, replacing the previous model, and weighing in with a $350 price tag.
Able Planet also introduced the IR 210 and IR 210T, two infrared headphones made for the car and home audio systems, respectively. The IR models feature auto-off functionality, 360 degree listening angle, and up to 50 hours of continuous play.
If you’re at CES this week, you’ve still got a day to stop by Able Planet’s booth (#7904) in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. And if you can’t make it out there, keep reading gagagadget, where we’ll be bringing you all the hottest news – live – straight from the show floor.
