In anticipation of the holiday season, Sennheiser will open two temporary concept stores in the U.S., running from November 22nd to December 28th. To increase consumer awareness of Sennheiser brand, the experiential stores will feature an audiovisual “cocoon design,” host events, and premiere an interactive installation by Andreas Muller of Nanika.
Located in the neighborhoods of New York’s Lower East Side and San Francisco’s Mission District, the stores will act as urban hub, allowing visitors to hang out and enjoy “the pleasures of excellent sound (#earlove)” while browsing through a selection of curated magazines and playlists. They will also be offered refreshment drinks.
The concept stores will feature a melange of sonic and visual elements, interluding between abstracted forms, cityscapes and visual sound waves. Grey acoustic panels will cover the walls and not only convey a unique visual experience, but also reduce outside noise and create a sonic “cocoon,” meant to serve as a temporary escape from the Christmas shopping hustle.
Each store will feature a DJ booth and gaming area where visitors can test specific products in their home environment. Another highlight is an interactive audiovisual installation by Andreas Muller which will visualize the ambient sounds outside the stores in real-time.
While Sennheiser offers many professional audio products, the store’s offering will focus on Sennheiser’s consumer headphones: the recently launched young URBANITE, the premium MOMENTUM ON-EAR and smaller earphones. Prices will range between $20 – $300.
“The primary mission of these pop up stores is to offer urban consumers a deeper appreciation of premium sound, while encouraging them to foster a closer relationship with Sennheiser.” explains Stefanie Reichert, director of strategic marketing for Sennheiser. “During November and December, in each of these U.S. urban capitals, consumers will have the opportunity to interact directly with our brand, giving us the opportunity to better understand customers’ needs while perhaps influencing their decision-making criteria.”
In-Store Events
In the New York store, Sennheiser will host weekly events with local musicians and artists that will be live streamed on Sennheiser’s website. Vogue’s ‘One To Watch’ 2014 Marques Toliver is already confirmed. Others will be announced soon.
The Design
Inspired by Sennheiser’s mission ‘The Pursuit of Perfect Sound’, the award-winning spatial designer Helen Sirp collaborated with Saintil Communications creative director Jean-Robert Saintil to create the experience of the stores. Envisioning a sanctuary for excellent sound, Sirp explains: “I wanted to create a space that offers a unique experience for sound and was intrigued by the contrast of sound vs silence. That’s why we chose the grey acoustic panels which also match Sennheiser’s corporate colors quite nicely. I especially like that the stores are in urban areas — sound waves meeting the cityscape!”
Central to the store space is the installation of the URBANITE headphones which will be placed on illuminated ‘sound towers’. These will form a visual ‘sound wave’ of light which echoes the urban environment, reflecting the cityscape in an abstracted form extending over the entire space. The second product series, the MOMENTUM On-Ear headphones, will be housed in milky perspex illuminated towers converging out of walls horizontally.
The window installation by Andreas Muller of London-based interactive design firm Nanika visualizes the ambient sound inside stores to the outside world in a real-time 3D display.
Helen Sirp, the London-based designer who graduated at the talent pool Central Saint Martin’s, is best-known for designing and curating retail and event spaces for the lingerie label Kriss Soonik, top-line London creative agency My Beautiful City and Eesti Disainikeskus (The Estonian Design Centre) which was awarded as best ‘International Fashion Showcase‘ by the British Council during London Fashion Week 2013.
#EarLove
The opening of Sennheiser's concept stores follows the company's highly successful 'Let Your Ears Be Loved' campaign that launched earlier this fall, and gained over one million views in just ten days. The campaign, which features video, social media and experiential event components —each driven by a sensual and somewhat controversial German-accented 'URBANITE headphone character' — encourages millennial consumers to pamper their ears with aural pleasure.
