PUMP Audio

Idea

Introduction

PUMP Audio was inspired by our shared love of Dance Music.

We realised that there was a large segment of the headphone market that wasn't being catered for.

As far as we know most of the World's leading headphone manufacturers (with one notable exception) make headphones with a “flat frequency response”, meaning that they reproduce slavishly the sound that’s fed in to them, giving every frequency exactly the same priority.

That can be great for certain genres of music, such as Classical and Rock.

But for other genres such as Dance Music, the music sounds much better when listened to with a 'richer' or 'warmer' sound signature.

Headphones that have a flat frequency response can sound just that: flat.

We've tuned PUMP headphone products specifically to have the "club sound" sound signature that Dance Music lovers love.

It’s incredible for lovers of EDM (Electronic Dance Music), but also sounds amazing with other genres of music as well.

Intended impact

VISION:

Our vision is to be the preferred brand of heaphones globally for lovers of Dance Music.

We believe that by focusing on this segment of the market, we have a competitive advantage over other brands who do not specialise.

Because people who are in to Dance Music tend to be seen as "cool" and are often trendsetters, we expect to generate a halo effect whereby we gain users who listen to music from right across the spectrum.

We feel we have already made strong ripples with repeat purchases from many of our initial customers. We think this is an extremely strong indicator of the brand loyalty that we already have and expect to continue as we scale.

We've also received rave reviews from users - see Amazon for examples.

With the Seedrs financial backing in place we will aggressively expand in to all first world English speaking countries as a first step, recruiting Distributors and Resellers and working with them on local marketing strategies as well as the "global" marketing strategy for the PUMP Audio brand.

We intend to be championed by our retail and distribution partners in a similar way as we have been by our first few thousand users.

We'll do this by working with them ethically towards a common goal and striving to provide the PUMP "wow" factor in everything we do.

PRODUCTS:

We will keep a tight focus on our product mix, giving each new development and new product the love it deserves to maintain the PUMP "wow" factor, rather than launching lots of new mediocre models for the sake of doing something new.

With everything we do in terms of product development, we will try to do it better than the competition, while keeping the focus on our core market of Dance Music lovers.

We will focus on innovation in terms of product development and marketing, but not to the detriment of the core fundamentals of quality, usability, desirability and attention to detail.

We will only develop products that we will *genuinely* use ourselves.

Substantial accomplishments to date

◆ A successful kickstarter campaign which got us started with our first product.

◆ We’ve had a great start with sales of £250,000 and over 8k units sold*.

◆ A focus on extreme quality has meant that our reviews for PUMP In-Ear (our first PUMP product) have been unprecedented in their praise from users, with rave reviews from industry insiders, and consistent 5* reviews from the people that matter: PUMP users. You can see the reviews on the PUMP site, or at Amazon.

◆ Fixed 2 QC issues which could have damaged the brand had we not reacted in the way we did. This was achieved because of the passion we have for the brand.

◆ Up-spec’d our In-Ear packaging to the point we feel it now rivals the very best.

◆ Listened to retailers and distributors and reduced the price point of PUMP In-Ear from £100 to £69.

◆ Received rave reviews, including the first (and ONLY ever at the time of writing) 5 star review from BestEarphonesGuide.co.uk.

◆ Developed 3 new products (In-Ear, Pure & Zeus) and started development on In-Ear Wireless & DJ headphones.

◆ Got first distribution deal for the UK.

*source: unaudited management accounts.

Monetisation strategy

The business model is straightforward in terms of the revenue model.

Of course straightforward does not equal easy, but it's one area where complexity is not an issue:

1) Sales to Distribution partners;
2) Channel sales to Retailers;
3) Direct web sales to the consumer;
4) Sales to independent online resellers;
5) Sales to independent offline resellers.

We will focus in house on:

1) Widening our distribution and retail networks;
2) Looking after our existing distributors and retailers as well as we look after our end users;
3) Finding new channels that generate a positive ROI;
4) Continuing the focus on direct sales via the Internet;
5) Monitoring and managing brand reputation;
6) Relentlessly going after reviews;
7) Aggressively offering on targeted ad-buys (always tracking results);
8) Doing selected trade and consumer shows in target countries.

We will also produce a specialist DJ headphone model which we will aggressively market to DJs.

In very limited cases we may offer top DJs payment to use them while DJing. In most cases, we will offer "top" DJs as many sets as they need for free. For 2nd tier DJs we will offer them sets a heavily subsidised price (cost price) and for all other DJs we will make them available at a competitive price compared with the market leader (Sennheiser HD25) with the hope that this model will turn in to a profit centre in its own right.

This project has already started and a small portion of the Seedrs investment funds will be used to a) complete the development and bring the headphones to market; b) hire the right person to head up marketing, to contact and manage the relationship with DJs.

By getting PUMP Audio headphones on the heads of the Worlds top DJs, we expect a real trickle down effect to Dance Music fans, and to generate a halo effect around the brand.

Use of proceeds

We believe in testing small and then jumping on activities that show a positive ROI, or look as though they could with some tweaking.

With this core philosophy always in mind, we plan to:

1) Bolster our trade sales team, with small sales teams in each country competing against each other.

2) Exhibit at trade and consumer shows in the UK, USA, & other target countries.

3) Try many more advertising channel opportunities (testing small first).

4) Find the right people to achieve a social media presence that matches the quality and personality (and results!) of our other marketing.

5) Offer some financial incentive for authority publications and big artists to endorse our products (only if the deals make financial sense).

6) Develop new models including the DJ headphones described above.

Of course there will be many other calls on capital but the money raised will be spent extremely carefully and strategically with the same care that earned income would be spent.

Investor Perks

IF YOU INVEST £100:
– A one off 35% Discount Code for any PUMP model (can be used once and never expires until used).

IF YOU INVEST £250:
– A 50% Discount Code for any PUMP model (can be used TWICE and never expires until used).

IF YOU INVEST £500:
– 80% Discount. We’ll send you one each of all our current models (In-Ear, Pure & Zeus (when ready)) with an 80% Discount*

IF YOU INVEST £1,000:
– 80% Discount. We’ll send you one each of all our current models (In-Ear, Pure & Zeus (when ready)) with an 80% Discount*
– We’ll join you up to our Founders Club and give you 50% off any new product we ever make.

IF YOU INVEST £5,000:
– 80% Discount. We’ll send you one each of all our current models (In-Ear, Pure & Zeus (when ready)) with an 80% Discount*
– We’ll join you up to our Founders Club and send you every new model we ever make – if possible before it goes on sale to the general public – at a nominal cost**

IF YOU INVEST £10,000:
– 80% Discount. We’ll send you one each of all our current models (In-Ear, Pure & Zeus (when ready)) with an 80% Discount*
– We’ll join you up to our Founders Club and send you every new model we ever make – if possible before it goes on sale to the general public – at a nominal cost**
– Request up to 5 sets of headphones (any model) from us each year to be sent to you or your friends/family at nominal cost**

IF YOU INVEST £100,000:
– 80% Discount. We’ll send you one each of all our current models (In-Ear, Pure & Zeus (when ready)) with an 80% Discount*
– We’ll join you up to our Founders Club and send you every new model we ever make – if possible before it goes on sale to the general public – at a nominal cost**
– Request up to 10 sets of headphones (any model) from us each year to be sent to you or your friends/family at nominal cost**
– Direct access to all key Team Members including Adam Blair. This will include email address and telephone number, Whatsapp, Skype etc.

* there may be a shipping delay, depending on demand
** nominal cost is the lowest possible cost possible while complying with EIS / SEIS guidelines – typically this will be “cost price”