Chapter 193
I was with Pepper inspecting another idea I had (stole) last year. Earlier, we had gone over everything again about how things would unfold during the Super Bowl.
Beats by Mello
The idea is straightforward: an over-ear wired headphone called Beats One. The brand uses a minimalistic logo — a "b" inside a circle — placed on both earcups. Visually, it suggests the head of a person using the headphones.
The headphones come in five color options: snow white (my signature look), matte black, deep red, electric blue, and rose gold. The build quality is solid, using reinforced structure, soft memory foam pads, and a high-quality detachable cable.
The sound is tuned with a focus on deep, punchy bass, enhancing the listening experience for EDM, pop, and hip hop.
The concept is all about quality, style, and simplicity.
"Wow, this design really follows Apple's philosophy," I said while looking at the box. "Not that we're going to disclose that," I murmured.
No gimmicks, no clutter, just premium simplicity. The packaging is a rigid white box with a single high-resolution photo of the headphone on the front. Under the image, it says "Beats One," and in the lower corner, subtly, "by Mello."
On the side of the box, there's a small cartoon of Marshmello wearing the headphone on his head, smiling, with one hand slightly raised as if greeting the viewer.
"Yeah, exactly what I wanted," I said while opening the box and feeling the texture. "The feeling of a premium product."
I opened it and took out the manual. It was almost entirely visual. There were barely any words. Easy and fast to understand.
Then I picked up the headphone and noticed there were extras. Pepper explained,
"We added a hard case with a clean, minimal design to protect the headphones while matching the overall premium aesthetic. Inside the case, a P2–P10 adapter is stored neatly in a dedicated internal slot, allowing users to plug into professional audio gear when needed. With also included two sizes of cables"
She took the headphone from my hand and detached the cable. "The cable is detachable and built with quality materials to ensure durability and ease of replacement, adding a functional layer without complicating the user experience."
"We're going to sell even longer cables for those who need them," I added.
Pepper continued explaining, "We used Foster Electric for the drivers — same as Sony, Panasonic, etc. The entire production is based in China. We've already manufactured 150,000 units and can double that before Tomorrowland, when we plan to officially announce it."
"Each unit costs us around $24 to produce, and we're setting the retail price at $119,90. That gives us strong margins while keeping the product positioned as premium, but still accessible. After factoring in logistics, retail margins, marketing, and operational costs, we expect a realistic net profit of around $45 to $50 per unit," she finished.
I looked at her for a second, then asked, "And what about competitors? Who are we going up against in stores?"
"Sony MDR-V6 (around $80), Sennheiser HD 280 Pro (about $99), and Audio-Technica ATH-M30 (around $70)," she answered. "Let's finish our discussion first, and then I'll pull up all our competitors."
I had the Sony one, it was ugly.
"Sony MDR-V6, Sennheiser HD 280 Pro, and Audio-Technica ATH-M30. Who named that? Hard to remember. Jobs was right about it. Beats One — clean and easy," I commented. "And we put a premium price, but not so much that it feels like it's just for status."
"He would be proud!" I exclaimed.
"No. He would whine about copying them," Pepper corrected.
"Yeah, you're right, Peps. That weirdo MF plagiarized a bunch of stuff, started making money stealing other company signals, and still has the guts to talk about others," I agreed.
Pepper leaned back. "Avril already recorded the song 'Complicated' and it won't be released until March. We can shoot the music video now — and in the video, she can be seen wearing the matte black Beats One right at the beginning. Then we launch the video in April."
I leaned against the table and started thinking out loud. "Marshmello with the snow white, Britney with the rose gold, Avril with the matte black... We can bring in J.Lo for the deep red and give her 'Promiscuous' as a feature track (she was asking for another collaboration). For the electric blue, maybe Enrique Iglesias — he's huge in Europe and Latin America, his image fits perfectly."
Pepper thought for a moment. "Not a bad idea, but it's better to do something like that toward the end of the year. Let's wait and see if Avril Lavigne really becomes a breakout success.
You'd be putting her in the spotlight next to four megastars. If she doesn't take off, it might backfire. It's smarter to build that kind of campaign with established names, or pivot later to someone else if needed."
"Another problem, matte black is what we expected to sell the most — even though snow white is your signature." She added.
"I understand that, even I prefer the idea of matte black. Let me see everything so we can compare," I said, and Pepper grabbed a large box and began pulling them out one by one — the other four Beats One color variants, followed by the competitors' models (mostly in black).
I started inspecting the Beats carefully. "Yeah, matte black will be the best seller."
"It's also the one we paid extra attention to during production, from what was reported to me," Pepper said. "Exactly to ensure there won't be any chipping or surface issues. Quality across all models is our top priority".
"Good! I have a name to uphold," I said with a smirk.
We licensed several products last year, but only with high-quality brands: backpacks with Jansport (premium) and Eastpak (accessible), plush toys with Gund and Ty, school supplies with Faber-Castell and Paper Mate, sneakers with Nike and Converse, and apparel with Diesel and Ecko.
Other product categories included caps, pencil cases, notebooks, posters, pillows, and keychains.
"The Marshmello brand is truly becoming synonymous with quality," Pepper agreed. "It was a smart move to take curation seriously and not accept just anyone for the sake of making a quick buck."
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Beats (AI generator)
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