Omega 4D
Fresh positioning in a crowded market
THE CHALLENGE:
Previous iterations of the Omega series were rated best-in-class by users and audiologists. The Omega 3D was the first hearing aid to feature iPhone connectivity, and it provided unbeatable power and clarity.
Now, other manufacturers have caught up – all hearing aids in this category now offer Android and IOS integration, as well as almost identical functionality and sound quality.
THE OPPORTUNITY:
Hearing aids live in a bland market. Across 5 leading manufacturers, the products and their messaging are almost identical; the same safe blend of aspirational imagery and claims about features.
And the big, tired insight underpinning all these stories is that sound is about connection.
Connection is actually a solid insight, but it’s old and it’s generic, and that means we have an opportunity to do something truly stand-out.
Insights
LET GO
Wherever they go, deaf people are working harder than everyone else.
If you hear well, you can let your focus drift and still follow along. If you don’t hear well, you can’t stop concentrating for a second. On top of trying to make sense of the spotty audio you’re picking up through your hearing aids, you need to constantly lipread and interpret body language to fill in the gaps.
That’s exhausting. It’s unsustainable. It’s a pain that every profoundly deaf person can connect with.
FOCUS ON THE DEAF COMMUNITY
Check out the tone on deaf messaging forums. It’s sharp and cynical. Profoundly deaf people know that deafness impacts their lives. Most make below average incomes. The aspirational imagery is probably way off base.
The profoundly deaf community owns the largest, loudest and most vibrant online conversation about deaf issues. If we can earn their loyalty, their word-of-mouth chatter will hold immense value.
THE SUM IS WORTH MORE THAN THE PARTS
Competitors sell their products on features, pushing one feature foremost in the message hierarchy (power, size, clarity, personalization or connectivity).
But in the real world, audio conditions vary: crowds, bad acoustics, background noise, wind. Each set of circumstances presents its own unique problems.
Single features don’t cut it. People want the best all-round solution. They want a product that works for them in the real world.
SAY “DEAF”
Look on any forum, and you’ll see that deaf people don’t like the term “hearing impaired” yet this is the only way they’re referred to in the marketing. Manufacturers are nervous about alienate potential users who weren’t deaf from birth, and don’t identify with the deaf community.
But deep down, people are realists. Newly deaf people will look to the ‘experts’ (the deaf community) for honest, unbiased advice.
Strategy
Drop the fairytales and connect with our audience’s real experience.
Show them we understand the issues they’re dealing with in the real world – because who better to fix what ails you than the brand that understands what you’re going through?
Compliment them for working their asses off – for not letting anything hold them back. (Do not offer pity)
Stop competing on features – instead show them we’re offering a solution that meshes with their real life experience.
A lesson from another industry
UNDER ARMOUR
Until around 10 years ago, the sportswear market was as saturated and bland as the hearing aid market. Every brand leaned on celebrities to tell more or less the same story – a story about winning.
Under Armour grew to become the worlds 3rd biggest sports brand in just 20 years by flipping the narrative. Their big insight was that 99.9% of an athlete’s experience is the training, not the winning. They focused their story on the grit needed to get up early, to go out in the rain and snow, and train day in, day out. That’s something special. If you’ve got it, you’re already outclassing almost everyone else out there.
Our narrative echoes this – it compliments our audience on making it, on doing it against all the odds. It tells them they’re already winning.
