When Harman International asked Boombang to think about creating a signature series of audio products for Kanye West and Jennifer Lopez, we understood both the great opportunity and significant challenge in designing for two of the most iconic and influential entertainers in the world.
Celebrity partnerships have long been a popular way for brands to build awareness and increase market share for a product launch. But in this case, we also had to create the product. So a big part of our task was to strategize about what form these audio products would take and then how they would best align with the two stars' distinct styles.
We began by asking ourselves how you accurately distill the essence of such large and dynamic personalities into a physical item, especially for two people who express themselves in a multitude of ways across numerous creative industries (music, film and television, fashion, tech, fragrance, etc.).
Additionally, since we were developing entirely new products, we needed to collaborate directly with both JLo and Kanye, their creative teams, and Harman to ensure each brand was on target and both artists had significant input into the process and final design. All of which required skillful project management and deft creative flexibility.
Working with JLo and Kanye's personal brand bibles and collaborating with their individual creative directors, we landed on the idea for customized headphones for each artist. Both directions would incorporate their shared interest in fashion, but with distinctly different aesthetics.
In Kanye's case, we were aware of his interest and passion for eyewear, so for his line of headphones, we incorporated materials from that world, including a durable but flexible acetate in a tortoiseshell pattern. For JLo, we played with a variety of vibrant colorways and different textures, including faux fur and bejeweled finishes.
The result was an entirely new line of high-quality, fashion-forward headphones as fun (and distinctive) to look at as they were to listen to. Both are perfectly positioned to disrupt and compete in the booming annual $25 billion headphone market for years to come.