Monsoon Audio Systems will launch a marketing campaign to drive traffic to Grooveride.com, a jazzed-up version of Monsoon's previous catalog-type online effort.
Grooveride went live late last month, targeting early technology adopters age 25 to 45 living in urban areas and earning $40,000 or more per year to consider Monsoon's computer and automotive flat speaker stereo systems.
To get these consumers to visit Grooveride, print ads will be placed in Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, and Internet banner ads will be posted at Tunes.com, AudioHighway.com and Listen.com. The marketing strategy also incorporates pre-feature slide shows at Loews and General Cinemas and an agreement with Max Racks postcard racks to place Grooveride postcards in urban hipster haunts, including restaurants, cafes and music stores nationwide.
Young & Laramore, Indianapolis, developed the campaign.
While the goal is to sell Monsoon's audio products, the rich media and interactive features on the site could divert visitors’ attention. Visitors to the site can listen to country, jazz, hip-hop and rock riffs. They also can use a virtual mixing board to create and record their own music and e-mail the creations to friends. E-mails sent from the site are embedded with links back to Grooveride. “This is where we get our viral marketing,” said Ann Beriault, vice president at Young & Laramore.
“We want to hit people who aren't even looking for speakers,” he said. “The objective [of launching Grooveride] was to provide an interactive experience and extend the brand. We use the Web site more as an introduction into our product promise. It's really about getting the Monsoon name on a list in someone's head.”
Early tracking indicates that the site is capturing people's attention. Visitors spend an average of 15 minutes at the site.
“We wanted to have a sticky site,” Beriault said. “The point is that if someone is going to have a memorable experience [while interacting with Grooveride,] hopefully that leads to a memorable brand.”
Young & Laramore's strategy also includes a plan to promote Monsoon's products to executives at automotive and computer companies who decide which stereo brands will be used in their products. Beriault did not have details of new partners, but she said Monsoon speakers already are being used in several Volkswagen and General Motors models.
