
Page — 10
Interim report 9M 2022/23
Q3 saw the announcement of a new partnership with
Scuderia Ferrari for the 2023 Formula 1 season. Ferrari
and Bang & Olufsen share a passion for state-of-the-art
design, technology and performance, as well as fan base
similarities. Formula 1 has 445m viewers a year.
(Source: Nielsen data, 2021 F1 viewers.)
The new partnership attracted immense interest from
its early launch. Extensive media coverage brought
about a combined publications audience of 2.41bn, and
our social platforms saw high levels of interaction and
boosted brand followers. The partnership is expected to
bring much more than brand reach and awareness.
Events and activations throughout the Formula 1
season will enable interaction and engagement with
VHNWI customers and bring Bang & Olufsen product
experiences to Formula 1 and Ferrari fans globally.
Building a seamlessly connected product portfolio,
bridging our past, present and future
To cement our position in luxury, we want to continue
and accelerate the creation of desirability for our
products. Acknowledging that our target segments have
an affinity for product customisations, Q3 saw the first
launch of a B&O Atelier limited edition, a made-to-
order collection of the award-winning EX true wireless
earphones.
B&O Atelier is our studio in Struer which truly leverages
our unparalleled craftsmanship capabilities and
specialises in bespoke creations. Our first Atelier
Edition is made-to-order only, truly personal and
created inhouse by our team of experts.
Apart from meeting customer demand for
customisation and creating product desirability, our
Atelier Editions are further intended to reinforce our
brand heritage, drive brand interest and create
exclusivity and collectability in our offerings.
In the first hours following the announcement, 1,500
customers signed up to buy the first Atelier Edition EX,
and we experienced a peak in the number of newsletter
subscribers post launch. When the collection became
available for sale, all units sold out in less than two
hours.
More editions will launch throughout 2023 in a variety
of unique colours, and B&O Atelier will work with other
elements of bespoke, customised offerings.
In March we introduced our iconic speaker Beosound
A9, 5
th
Generation on our Mozart platform. The heart of
Bang & Olufsen’s Mozart platform is the replaceable
module, frontloaded with enough processing power to
receive software updates and features for many years to
come. If the connectivity and streaming technology
ever becomes obsolete, the module can be replaced
with the latest version – providing great sound
experiences for years to come.
Winning in key, global cities
Through our Win London project, we have developed
and validated a go-to-market approach that is scalable
to other relevant cities of focus. Our Win London
project has been in execution for some time, while Win
Paris has gradually gone into execution and Win New
York is in the planning phase and expected to go into
execution in Q4.
Win London activations for the quarter included Gen Z
influencer events and brand collaborations yielding a
reach of 1.2 million people. The activations also zoomed
in on the topic of longevity and featured hosting of
longevity workshops and several other initiatives. The
efforts for the quarter paid off, delivering solid sell-out
growth of 75% for our company owned stores in London
specifically and sell-out growth of 14% for the UK
overall.
Win Paris activations kicked off in the quarter. A
cornerstone activation was the first edition of “Écoutes
en Scène”, which is a planned series of listening events
powered by our flagship product, Beolab 90, dedicated
to the discovery of album releases and reeditions with
renowned artists, on the main stage of historic concert
hall Salle Pleyel, in the 8
th
arrrondissement of Paris.
Tickets for the first event sold out in less than two
minutes. The event enjoyed participation from around
200 guests, a large proportion of whom were VIP guests,
and we made extensive use of media coverage to boost
awareness and interest in our brand and in the
forthcoming “Écoutes en Scène” events.
Additionally, we hosted a private DJ Master Class at Le
Bon Marché with 40 invited VIP customers. We also co-
hosted a pop-up event over five days with participation
by a curated audience of Parisian target customers,
journalists and influencers.
Our targeted Q3 Win Paris activation yielded positive
results, with sell-out growth reaching 12% for our
company owned stores compared to flat overall sell-out
in France for the quarter.
We also executed a number of sub-elements of our five
strategic shifts during the quarter, and we will continue
to execute for the remainder of the fiscal year, while
also sharpening our desired goals and critical
milestones ahead.