Part+Two+-+SWOT

**Strengths** Beats by Dre’s strength is its brand name. It’s brand name builds its foundation on a successful and famous music producer, Dr. Dre. It markets the record producer’s professional work in music by promoting the Beats headphone as the ultimate music producer headphone. The Beats Headphones are also marketed well through various endorsements by music professionals such as music producers and music artists. The Beats headphones are exemplifies as product placements to various music videos where music personalities (such as Lady Gaga, and Sean “Diddy” Combs) endorse the product (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVBsypHzF3U). Also, its exclusively uses Monster technologies with its headphone lines. Monster is a well established brand known for its cable technologies. Beats by Dre is using Monster’s name brand to introduce the Beats headphone with the quality people have known over the years with Monster’s cables and its technologies. Beats will take advantage of Monster’s brand recognition where people relate Monster with the quality of products that they manufacture. It is proven in tests that Monster products are more than ordinary cables and values quality ( [|__http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/field-notes/the-truth-about-monster-cable-266616.php__] ). Having Monster as its manufacturer for its headphones will help Beats by Dre gain the recognition from its prospective customers the quality that Monster provides for its products **Weaknesses** Price is a weakness for Beats by Dre because the headphones are manufactured with the best materials with quality in mind that the costs for the consumers will inevitably be high. Also, with marketing strategies using celebrity endorsements and focus on promoting the product will add the cost on the already expensive retail price of the Beats headphones. Also, Beats cater to audiophiles who already know and researched about the product. Since high price will prevent average earning consumers from purchasing a Beats headphone, the company uses the “exclusivity status” of owning a pair of Beats by Dre headphones. Another weakness of the Beats lineup is that comparative headphones from other brands are priced competitively. Most noise canceling headphones similar with Beats from Bose, Sony or Panasonic have standard retail costs from $100.00-$300 000. sold in various retail stores such as Futureshop and Best Buy. Beats face competition on a market populated by technology giants where quality is also valued by its consumers with a common lower price than Beats. Beats currently don’t have an entry level headphone that costs under $100 that will cater a specific target market with a tighter budget. **Opportunities** Beats by Dre have potential to tap into a larger market where customer’s needs are not met. These opportunities include Beats introducing a home theatre experience rather than a portable experience. This will allow Beats to create a need for consumers who would want wireless music in their home experiencing the music from home theatres or though video games. Listening at the comfort of home will expand Beat’s product lines and help establish Beats as a music company that supports home and outdoor music entertainment. Also, Beats have opportunities to improve its products when their current products approaches the end of the product life cycle. Product Development is a strategy that Beats need to take advantage of to continue their brand. Similarly with the progression of the Apple’s iPods, Beats need to develop new products to refresh their product line. Continuous compatibility with mP3 players, music phones and iPods by ensuring Beats technology is refreshed and up to date will help Beats continue to progress in the future. **Threats** Monster Beats by Dre is threatened by the rapid change of technology. There will always be new substitutes for the Beats headphones with a better price manufactured by other companies. Companies such as Sony and Senheisser manufactures noise cancelling headphones at a much cheaper price. Continuous emergent of new headphones will release new substitutes for the Beats headphones.  Also, since Beats is a company heavily endorsed by music and media personalities, any bad publicity can hinder Beats’ image. Negative publicity caused by these media personalities will hinder its sales because with celebrity endorsements, the viewers are furious as they are captivated when they’re attached to a certain celebrity. Bad publicity by celebrities will result a negative image of the product endorsed.
 * SWOT Analysis**