Key takeaways:
- Sony builds lasting partnerships with artists, letting their creative vision shape products and campaigns.
- A two-year collaboration with Olivia Rodrigo led to custom LinkBuds, unique EQ features, and immersive fan experiences, highlighting Sony’s dedication to authentic artistry.
- Sony’s For the Music campaign, driven by creative collaboration with diverse artists, boosted sales by 20% year-over-year.
Sony selected influencers who aligned with the brand’s passion for music excellence and innovation. It resulted in a year-over-year sales increase of more than 20% in 2024.
But there’s more to the story.
In this interview, we speak to Sony Director, Head of Brand, Business Development, Partner Marketing, and Strategy Jordy Freed who sheds more light on:
- Sony’s long-term impact on creative collaborations
- Sony’s ongoing partnership with Olivia Rodrigo
Who Is Jordy Freed?
Jordy is a recognized expert in marketing, business development, and communications. As the first US-based employee in Sony’s brand and business development team, he leads marketing and business development for cross-functional initiatives such as 360 Reality Audio – Sony’s immersive music experience – global branding activities for sound products such as headphones and other related projects in the sound/electronics category for consumers and professionals.
Jordy has been recognized in the 2024 ADWEEK 50, highlighting his impact on brand and business development at Sony, particularly when it comes to celebrity partnerships:
“I’ve been with Sony Corporation of America for five years now, and it’s been an incredible experience leading business development, marketing and strategy for the brand’s cross-functional initiatives and audio products and solutions.
It’s also been rewarding to help Sony grow its focus on music creators and listeners through our For the Music campaign, which includes partnerships with some of today’s most accomplished acts across genres, such as Olivia Rodrigo, SZA, Peso Pluma, and more,” he says.
He highlights that prior to his role at Sony, he served as the VP of strategic marketing, PR, and business development at Blue Note Entertainment.
Here, he ideated business and brand strategies to elevate an iconic jazz brand and align it with companies outside of music.
In 2018, his role was pivotal when he partnered Blue Note Entertainment with Sony in creating New York’s Sony Hall, so he says that his current work spearheading and conceptualizing artist partnerships for Sony feels like a true full-circle moment.
Creativity and Collaboration as the Core of Sony’s Growth Strategy
Jordy explains that when he joined Sony, they set out to create an impactful marketing strategy rooted in creativity and collaboration with genre-diverse creators, particularly empowering creators.
“It was important to me that we worked with artists who align with the brand’s passion for music excellence and innovation. That’s how Sony’s For the Music campaign came to life, which has been paramount in how we’ve positioned ourselves in the market and differentiated amongst competitors along with our parallel focus on pro audio/music creation (in addition to music listening).
The initiative has deepened Sony Audio’s cultural relevance, brand affinity, and popularity,” he says.
Through partnerships with acclaimed creatives, Sony has seen a year-over-year sales increase of more than 20% this past year.
Jordy adds that Sony is also seeing growth in brand awareness and loyalty among its target demographics, particularly Gen Z and music industry professionals.
Inside Sony’s Partnership with Olivia Rodrigo to Innovate Fan Engagement
Sony has worked with a diverse collection of talent, including big names like Alicia Keys and Olivia Rodrigo.
But Sony isn’t just trying to chase the biggest names in the industry.
Jordy says that the brand prioritizes authentic, creator-driven collaborations over superficial endorsements.
“When we partner with artists, it’s more than just putting their name on Sony products. Our partnerships are highly collaborative, innovative, and creator-driven. Sony’s alliances go beyond borrowing talent’s name and likeness for a moment in time, which can often feel forced and forgettable,” he explains.
He adds that they always allow for creator vision to shape Sony’s products and fan experiences.
A great example of this is Sony’s latest campaign for Olivia’s custom LinkBuds which come in her signature violet color and are made with factory-recovered plastic and reclaimed water bottles.
Why? Sustainability is an important social cause for Olivia and her fans.
“We also brought to market a feature called Custom EQ. LinkBuds x Olivia Rodrigo includes 2 custom EQs tuned by Olivia and her producer Dan Nigro for optimal listening to her albums GUTS and SOUR on the music streaming service of your choice.
You can enjoy these settings using the Sound Connect app and see the EQ UI design selected by Olivia.
This brings her fans closer to her music through our product. Ultimately it just comes back to innovation and pushing boundaries past surface-level engagement to develop experiences that drive new value for artists and their fans,” he adds.
You must be curious about what it’s like working with someone like Olivia.
Jordy says it has been a great experience!
“Olivia’s been extremely hands-on throughout every key decision. She’s quite intentional with her artistic vision, which makes it much easier to develop a truly authentic campaign.
She is also an avid user of Sony’s professional audio gear, so she had a solid vision for the product out of the gate. Because of this, we were able to create an organic campaign that kept her creative world at the forefront, which has resonated with both Olivia’s fans and Sony’s consumers."
She also helped shape the campaign’s creative vision, bringing her personal touch to everything from a New York-themed launch to exclusive MetroCards and an immersive fan experience.
“We were able to snowball new and fun ideas for the collaboration with her, including featuring Olivia’s LinkBuds campaign image on one of the last-ever physical MetroCards, and hosting an immersive fan event in a former subway station in the Lower East Side,” he adds.
Olivia Rodrigo Brings Unique Value to the LinkBuds Campaign
Given Olivia’s influence, Jordy shares the unique value she brings to the campaign:
“Olivia is a phenomenal singer-songwriter and one of the most accomplished artists of today, so we knew that a partnership with her would bring a lot of value in engaging Gen Z for Sony’s For the Music campaign series.”
He highlights that this aligns seamlessly with Sony’s broader focus on both listeners and consumers, as well as its work within the professional audio segment.
“Furthermore, she has a deep, unbreakable connection with her fans, which really helped us understand how to ideate a campaign geared towards her audience. We took her fans into consideration for every single decision throughout the partnership and I think they can feel that,” Jordy concludes.
But what makes this campaign outstanding in the highly competitive audio market?
“Olivia’s LinkBuds are a truly custom product, and it goes far beyond the cosmetic design. Custom EQ is a great example of that, where it fundamentally comes down to the product experience.
That alone is quite distinctive. In addition, throughout the campaign, Sony championed Olivia’s creative endeavors by curating audio accessories, content, activations, and listening experiences that were directly inspired and ideated by her,” Jordy answers.
He adds that Sony’s partnership with Olivia Rodrigo is a long-term, holistic collaboration rather than a one-time promotional effort tied to an album release.
The brand has been in partnership with her for two years now.
The Long-Term Impact of Celebrity Collaborations on Brand Trust and Innovation
Jordy shares the long-term benefit of working with a celebrity like Olivia Rodrigo.
And it goes beyond immediate sales and visibility.
“Most importantly it’s about creator trust. When you truly collaborate on building products over the course of multiple years with an artist like Olivia and really empower them to bring their vision to market, other creators and the industry take note.
You develop even more trust than the trust you have and it just opens doors for more collaboration and innovation, which if done right, can actually transform and augment your business,” he explains.
Finally, Jordy shares the key lessons learned from the Olivia Rodrigo campaign:
- The importance of collaborating with partners to fundamentally transform product experiences, such as developing custom EQ features.
- The need to meet audiences and future audiences where they are, with the education sector identified as a promising space for building meaningful connections.
Reflecting on everything Jordy shared, the key takeaway for businesses is clear: long-term, authentic collaborations drive brand loyalty and market differentiation.
By engaging in meaningful and strategic influencer partnerships with popular artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Sony successfully drives growth, deeper consumer connections, and better sales.
