With so much fanfare, Phonak recently revealed its latest series of hearing aid models, Infinio Hearing Aid.

Many professionals within the hearing care industry anticipated the launch on August 5, 2024, not knowing what was to be revealed.

However, given that it was from a hearing aid brand, many speculated it must be a new hearing aid launch.

But after the big reveal, it turns out they were right. Phonak revealed a new hearing aid that was slightly better than the older model in terms of sound quality.

Say who?! Every day consumer have the last say on whether this innovative hearing aid changes their quality of life.

What’s special about the Infinio model is that it processes sound on a chip. This is the first time the semiconductor chip performs the AI work instead of running it through software. Many of our devices, from laptops to computers to headsets, have all transitioned to operating the AI on the chip. And with the shortages of semiconductor chips, because almost every hardware business wants to benefit from the AI boom, these hearing aids will have a nice high price tag due to limits and scarcity of resources. Phonak can charge a high premium for these devices that few people can buy.

Phonak marketing came from the “Fyre Festival” playbook.

If you are not aware, the Fyre Festival was supposed to democratize luxury and lifestyle for people who wouldn’t be able to afford it on a daily basis.

The luxury lifestyle and music festival was held in the Bahamas, but it was a complete failure. Many social media influencers spend thousands of dollars on what they thought would be the trip of their lifetime.

The event organizer, Billy McFarland, scammed buyers with his clever marketing campaign (and got sent to prison) when he overpromised and deeply underdelivered. What was to be a luxury experience turned out to be thousands of people trapped on an island with limited mattress tents and ham and cheese sandwiches, which were the luxury meal of the day. The Island didn’t have the capacity nor the resources to serve visitors at the level one was expecting.

Billy McFarland’s clever marketing campaign created a sold-out event that worked at getting people to buy in on the dream. Phonak’s marketing team used a similar tactic.

1. The enlisted influencers to be part of the anticipatory launch.

At the Fyre Festival, McFarland used supermodels like the Kardashians and Victoria Secret’s supermodels to create a commercial of them on the island, capturing them in bikinis playing on the beach and having fun playing with wild pigs.

Similarly, Phonak used influencers, mainly hard-of-hearing hearing care professionals like Dr. Cliff and other popular hearing care professionals with large or engaged social media accounts, as part of the campaign launch.

Each recorded a video of themselves engaging with a green glowing ball (the Phonak brand colour).

They also provided a sample of the hearing aids to the influencers so they could try them out and share their reviews. Some didn’t say anything positive or negative about the hearing aids, but others gave positive reviews without highlighting anything specific as to why.

2. The emotion of fear of missing out (FOMO) and curiosity created the attention Phonak needed to get our attention

During the lead-up to the launch, McFarland’s Fyre Festival and the influencers posted an orange square on the social media account. That’s it.

Its purpose was to invoke curiosity because so many popular and well-known influencers’ accounts had posted the orange square at relatively the same time. When followers scroll through their feeds, they say the orange square numerous times and wonder what the secret orange square reveals. It caught people’s attention.

Likewise, many audiologists and hearing dispensers went on social media, mimicking their made-up green ball or sphere and wondering what the secret was. It created a sense of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) for those who were not the influencers promoting Phonak’s glowing ball but wondering what secret Phonak was waiting to share.

McFarland then launched the marketing video promoting the Fyre Festival event in the Bahamas. The ads attracted their viewers’ attention and desire for the dream of a lifetime and created a sold-out event and millions of dollars in sales.

Phonak’s marketing goal was brand awareness.

Phonak intended to create more brand awareness for its latest product. In addition to the influencer, they took a video ad at Times Square to promote their latest hearing aid model as well as a hologram or a virtual reality experience of the green sphere planted in the city of LA.

This obviously does not mean anything to anyone who doesn’t have hearing loss in NY Times Square who was there at the time the ads were running. However, it will trigger a response from those who are familiar with hearing aids and who happen to be there as well.

Phonak repurposed its Times Square promotion by sharing a video clip of its ads running live at Times Square on all of its social media accounts.

This leads me to think that Times Square was more for Phonak to repurpose to their followers on social media to highlight and create an impression of the high status because it was featured on Times Square. Not every business gets to advertise in Times Square.

This campaign screams attention.

The challenge with marketing today is that many people are distracted by many things occupying their time. We have the attention of a goldfish, and what worked in the past doesn’t have the same effect of getting us to pay attention.

Phonak succeeded in getting our attention.

However, I feel that this marketing is a wasted effort for audiology clinic brands.

People desire a genuine connection with a brand and not seeking entertainment.

Connection builds trust, and trust leads to long-term sustainable ROI.

If there is anything you can learn from this marketing campaign. If you are going to seek attention, you better be adding value to people more than entertaining them.

People should feel that their lives have improved slightly by giving you their time and attention.

If you don’t, you’ll end up as another hype and slowly erode customer trust.