I spend a lot of time looking back at old advertising and products from the late 90s and early 2000s.
Probably too much time.
There was something about that era of advertising that just felt different. Sony is probably one of the easiest examples. Strange imagery, strange products, strange people and campaigns that sometimes left you with more questions than answers.
It’s partly why so much of it still gets reposted today.
But every once in a green (blue) moon, something new comes along that gives me that same feeling.
Artifaxing’s new LISTEN earphones did exactly that.
LISTEN
The idea behind LISTEN comes from something pretty simple.
Growing up, Artifaxing’s founder remembers having one of those old computers with the giant speakers and coloured cables. Those cables stuck with him, and years later became part of the inspiration behind LISTEN.
The result is a pair of wired earphones with colour-coded tips, a custom Artifaxing tin and a laser-etched aluminium USB-C connector.
In a time where most personal audio products seem to be moving towards being smaller, cleaner and increasingly wireless, there’s something nice about seeing the cable become part of the product again.
But the product is only half of what caught my attention.
The green man
Over the past few days, a completely green man has been walking around London wearing LISTEN.
That same character appears throughout the campaign imagery, turning what could have been a fairly straightforward earphone release into something we all connect with on a deeper level. In Artifaxing's latest reel, the green man (uncanny to the Sony headphones marketing ad from the 2000s) is seen walking through the streets and dancing, rocking to the beat of his own drum whilst listening with the 'LISTEN' earphones, if you didn't pick up on it now..well it resembles the early iconic iPod ads.
The LISTEN earphones will be available October 1st via www.forms.co/artifaxing
Sign up for early access is open now via @forms
Images via @artifaxing
