iPod headphones leak sound when turned up

Dear Sennheiser Marketing Managers (including country marketing managers)

Do any of you take public transportation?  You don’t.  You can’t!  How do I know? Because you are doing nothing about the scourge of every crowded public transport carriage in every major urban centre around the world – crappy little white iPod / iPhone headphones.

Regular people will say “What’s wrong with them, they’re so cool and white and they’re from Apple so they must be good, right?”  Sennheiser-man, you know they’re wrong, but you’re doing nothing about it!

Sennheiser offices are suburban. Do their employees take public transport?

Once you walk into your office after driving into your obviously suburban offices in Wennebostel (Germany), Albuquerque (New Mexico) or Tullamore (Ireland), you will open my letter and (a) shift delete or (b) save the world.  Please save my world; and get yourself a big bonus at the end of the year to get a better car.

How?

Here goes, using my own personal research and experience.

Sennheiser Noise isolating headphones don't leak (and you don't have to turn them up so loud)

Lots of people in American, European and now Asian urban centres own iPods. The best place to use an iPod (or iPhone) is on a crowded train, bus, subway, tram, etc.  About 20% of iPod owners have invested in decent portable headphones like the wonderful Sennheiser CX300, but most of them keep those tinny copper-wire-on-the-inside-apple-white-so-it-must-be-great-on-the-outside Apple headphones.

Trains and buses, etc. are loud.  So what do most people do? TURN IT UP SO I CAN HEAR MY MUSIC PROPERLY.  This means the 50% of us who thought we’d go without any iPod action on that particular morning get to hear someone else’s Beyonce or Celine Dion or Genesis (Phil Collins Genesis) noise pollution through the fully exposed, non-isolated iPod tins.

It’s your time Sennheiser-man/woman to shine.  I need you to move most of your budget to one activity:

Start a campaign called “Love thy neighbour and Save your ears”

1. Take regular ads in the Metro or whatever other free paper in every major town

2. Plaster the on-train/bus/subway/metro billboards

3. Sponsor the public transport system’s system map

The fundamental premise of the campaign:

If you have turned up your music on your in-box Apple headphones,

you are killing your ears and giving your neighbours much pain.

We’re sorry, but nobody wants to hear your music.

With the Sennheiser CX300/400/500, the sound is fantastic even at low volumes, which means you will save your ears and people will stop hating you.

I would love it if you could also include multiple pull out cards for annoyed neighbours to hand out that say:

You seem like a nice person

But your music is so loud I could start lip-synching for your pleasure

Here’s a coupon for $10 off a pair of Sennheiser CX300 headphones

Your music will sound better, you can listen at lower volumes

And me and the rest of this train don’t have to listen to it.

Please don’t stab me.

In one fell swoop you have given your target customers the double benefit of better sound quality and creating a better world.

If you don’t do it soon, Apple probably will (and charge more for it).

Yours faithfully,

George Pneumaticos