Sha’Carri Richardson, with long, newly dyed orange hair flowing behind her like flames, dusted the competition at the Olympic trials in mid-June in Oregon. The 21-year-old sprinter finished the 100-meter race in 10.86 seconds, qualifying for her first Olympics and earning the “fastest woman in America” title.
It was at that televised moment that track and field superfan and rapt viewer Larry Jackson, Apple Music’s global creative director, started mulling a collaboration between the instantly famous runner and Apple-owned Beats by Dre.
“She was so sensational and had so much energy,” said Jackson, who got the ball rolling moments after her victory. “She was bursting off the screen.”
But what happened over the following few weeks would send shockwaves through the sports and marketing worlds and beyond. Richardson tested positive for cannabis, effectively disqualifying her from the Games in Tokyo and pre-empting the worldwide attention that would’ve come with her Team USA appearance.
That left potential partners Beats and Apple with a decision to make: stick by the embattled athlete or cancel the nascent project. Executives, without hesitation, determined they would forge ahead—and even broaden the effort’s scope and scale.
I was surprised, relieved and honestly grateful that Beats still believed in me and stood behind me.
—Sha’Carri Richardson
“We said, ‘No way we’re pulling the plug—we’re going to double down,’” Chris Thorne, CMO at Beats, told Adweek. “This is the type of person that Beats runs toward, even if other brands choose to run away.”
Richardson, who broke the news of her suspension to the companies ahead of the headlines, had braced for the worst.
“I was surprised, relieved and honestly grateful that Beats still believed in me and stood behind me,” the Dallas-born runner told Adweek.
‘Live Your Truth‘
The resulting campaign, “Live Your Truth,” hyped the new Beats Studio Buds, but ended up serving multiple purposes for the brands, which brought on hip-hop mogul Kanye West as composer and editor. The soundtrack, made up of new and unreleased music from West, announced the artist’s long-awaited album, Donda, and its livestreamed listening sessions.
“That’s a lot to do in 60 seconds, but I’m a fan of combining messages,” Jackson said. “And we were trying to make something thoughtful, where each message had deep cultural relevance.”
The collaborators gave Adweek a behind-the-scenes look at the campaign–developed with no storyboards or agency–how it serves as a spiritual cousin to Beats’ Cannes Lion-winning short film, “You Love Me” and signals more activism to come.
A shared loss
Back in late June, Apple and Beats in-house marketers brainstormed a simple premise as soon as they had buy-in from Richardson and her team. A commercial would show Richardson crushing a 100-meter dash while wearing the Beats Studio Buds, intending to prove the product would stay firmly in place even at her lightning speed.
“One of the biggest complaints is [the belief] that ear buds fall out during strenuous exercise,” Thorne said, “and we thought it would be such a cool way to showcase these new buds with an awesome athlete.”
Jackson, meanwhile, had been looking for the right promotional vehicle for an original West track. He saw a hand-in-glove fit for West and Richardson, two unapologetically bold superstars with shared life experiences. (West’s record is a tribute to his late mother, Donda, and Richardson’s birth mother recently died; she turned to cannabis, she said, as a way to handle her grief.)
A campaign born
What started as a traditional product demo grew into a larger campaign that gelled in just three weeks, from concept to finished spots. Footage was shot in a single day at the outdoor track at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Aside from lending his voice, West edited both spots and helped pick the chyron copy, media placement and tagline (an alternative was “Run Your Own Race”), Thorne said.
The first spot, the more emotional and contemplative of the two set to West’s “No Child Left Behind,” got a surprise debut as the Phoenix Suns battled the Milwaukee Bucks for the NBA championship on July 20.
The next ad, to the tune of “Glory” with Dr. Dre as a producer and Snoop Dogg making a cameo, is the more action-oriented piece, keying in on Richardson’s training regimen and winning style. It premiered on digital platforms a few days later.
‘None of us are infallible’
The work, which has racked up 40 million social media views, became a high-profile show of support for Richardson as well as a rallying cry for individualism, faith and second chances. Instead of a conventional marketing message, it was a statement about empathy, vulnerability and, ultimately, strength.
We wanted to show Sha’Carri in a regal light, in a way that lifted her up when a lot of companies would’ve canceled her.
—Larry Jackson, global creative director, Apple Music
Avoiding what Jackson called the “poverty porn of the Black experience” that’s often prevalent in media, the team went for a different vibe.
“We wanted to show Sha’Carri in a regal light, in a way that lifted her up when a lot of companies would’ve canceled her or turned their backs,” he said. “And the message is, none of us are infallible.”
Richardson, who will compete next at the Prefontaine Classic on Aug. 21 and star in a Nike ad timed to the event, said “Live Your Truth” gave her valuable insight into the endorsement world.
“I learned that there are some brands and endorsements that relate to the individual,” she said. “And those brands are willing to break away from traditional partnerships and branding trends.”
Activist future for Beats
“Live Your Truth” comes on the heels of “You Love Me,” a cinematic spot from Translation released last year at a time when many brands had gone quiet on issues of inequality for Black Americans. At the time, it was a departure for Beats, which had focused almost solely on product attributes in its advertising.
But with that new activist mindset—and subsequent Titanium Lion and 500 million-plus views for “You Love Me”—the brand wanted to continue in that vein. Consumers should expect the streak to continue.
“We can’t just do that once—it’s a responsibility to keep going and keep pushing the envelope,” Thorne said. “I hope it’s the kind of work we become known for.”
CREDITS:
- Scored and edited by Kanye West
- CMO, Beats: Chris Thorne
- Global Creative Directors: Larry Jackson (Apple Music) & Diallo Marvel (Beats)
- Head of Production: Michael Refuerzo (Beats)
- Production Company: Happy Place
- Directors: Larry Jackson, Metropolis Jones & Greg R. Williams
- Concept by Larry Jackson and Philip Jackson
- Agency: Project Empower/Donda/Beats Internal
- DP: Ryan Postas
- Producer: Philip Jackson
- Color: Dimitri Zola / MPC
