As a lifelong music fan and self-proclaimed “music geek” Jim Mollica grew up hanging out in independent record stores and going to the local rock club. A record collector from a young age, audio has always been a real passion point for Mollica.
“I was listening to music that my parents certainly didn’t love indoors and I needed to stop listening to that stuff in the living room,” recalls Mollica. “I had this great desire to set up a stereo in my room. I had saved some money and went out and bought my first pair of speakers. When I went to the stereo shop, the salesman walked me through all these various speakers and the very last ones that he showed me looked and sounded like nothing I’d ever seen before. They were incredible.”
Those small cube modular speakers with directional sound are what got him started as a Bose fan, so when the audio brand offered Mollica the opportunity to be the company’s first-ever chief marketing officer, he jumped at the opportunity.
Since he took on the role in January 2021, Mollica has been on a mission to bring his passion for the brand to life in its marketing and advertising. “My goals for the company have been, how do we rearticulate our mission and vision of the brand,” says Mollica. “It wasn’t a change, just more of a modernization and a sharpening of those points. How do I consistently bring that mission to life through content and advertising and experiences and make it really impactful, unique and interesting in the places where people would expect us to be?”
Prior to joining Bose, Mollica has held senior leadership roles at Under Armour, Ralph Lauren, Viacom and The Walt Disney Company. Mollica will be speaking at Brand Innovators Marketing Leadership Summit in Las Vegas on January 6. Brand Innovators caught up with Mollica from his home office in Boston to talk about music as a passion point, holiday and why the brand launched its QuietComfort earbuds at New York Fashion Week. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Can you talk about Bose’s brand mission and how it shows up in your creative?
We believe that sound is the most powerful force on earth and that it is our superpower. Have you ever gone into a restaurant and sat down and had a meal and there’s no music on? It feels awkward. Or a backyard or beach gathering and somebody finally brings a Bluetooth speaker with their playlist and they put it in the middle of the party, it changes the dynamic, right? This very powerful mood enhancer can elevate people to have better experiences, greater emotional highs, push them through when they’re running or training through obstacles help them out getting over a bad breakup. That’s a very powerful emotional piece.
People that are huge fans that are passionate music fans agree that sound is the most powerful force on earth. We have all of these people that have dedicated their lives to these experiences. We believe that sound is our superpower, and it’s the most powerful force on earth. The vision and how this manifests in our everyday is how do we create transformative sound experiences at every touchpoint whether it be at home when you’re listening to music or watching a movie or playing a video game or on the go, when you’re you’re running or commuting or on an airplane and you have headphones on, we are creating the most immersive sound experiences that you possibly can imagine.
Our competition makes a lot of quality products, but they do treat sound as a bit of an accessory or a side hustle. They make phones and laptops and TV shows and they have ad networks. All we do is sound, this is it. If you are a passionate music fan, then you probably want somebody that specializes in this, right?
Can you talk about the importance of showing up in culture and how you’re thinking about culture as a brand?
We want to be everywhere where sound is really important and people would expect us to be. For example, you would expect Bose to have a big presence on Independent Record Store Day, celebrating those people that have dedicated their lives to music. We went to Austin and created this incredible experience with two unbelievable emerging artists Dayglow and Surfaces. We threw a big event and experience, as well as setup listening stations in these record stores to help people just enjoy and celebrate the moment. We authentically integrated to enhance the experience.
Another example is when the Prince estate came to us and wanted Bose to create the immersive experience and bring to light this walk through his entire catalog – his studio, his legacy. They felt Bose would be the perfect partner to create and help bring that audio experience to life with them. It’s this incredible honor to be brought into this creative genius that was Prince. Music fans would expect a company like Bose to be attached to that initiative.
We launched our QuietComfort earbuds at Fashion Week. A lot of people said, ‘Well, why would you do that?’ It’s because music and fashion are intertwined. Music has been really inspiring for fashion designers in every fashion runway show. They choreograph the music to those moments. We felt like we’re so integrated into art and culture, that there would be no better place than New York City to have that moment in time to integrate with somebody like Heron Preston – an incredible DJ and designer– and bring those two things together. It was very important to do it authentically.
How are you transforming these in-person experiences digitally to reach a wider audience?
The beauty of these experiential moments is the content that’s created off of those experiences, not just by us, but by fans. It helps to send a signal to the passionate music universe out there, that we’re one of you. It’s for passionate music fans by passionate music fans. It’s all the people that are there that are experienced both the artists and the fans, that are creating this content and sharing it out on all of the most meaningful digital platforms. That’s the way we’re using those experiences.
We’re working with our partners that are very diverse –everyone from HBO and Game of Thrones to musicians Gorillaz and Charlie Puth. We are utilizing them, not as brand ambassadors, but as part of the brand. They were all passionate fans of the brand and used the products before we ever sort of initiated discussions with them. They’re huge fans of the brands. They’re incredibly innovative in their own ways. They are creating content out there in the world with us. They are pushing it out through their channels in a super real and authentic way.
Can you share how you are applying your perspective from past experiences at companies including Disney, Viacom and Ralph Lauren to your current role at Bose?
I’ve been really fortunate and blessed to work for some really incredible marketing organizations. I’ve learned a ton from my peers, colleagues and bosses along the way. Disney is an incredible strategy organization. But what really struck me is how considered every single aspect of the consumer experience is with Disney. It really taught me to be incredibly consumer obsessed and aspire to look at every detail from the consumer lens. How do you enhance that experience from the moment they start thinking about you all the way through to their way home from the parks.
Viacom really helped emphasize to me that sometimes a creative idea is just an incredible creative idea and you should run with it, as well as the importance of making content that just wins. In the end, you’re competing for attention. It really helped me move away from creating advertising content that my brand is the authority to creating content that is entertaining for people and adds value to their life. Those two things have been really important driving forces in my approach.
Can you talk about how you are approaching holiday and the rest of the year?
It is an interesting time of the world as we’re coming out of COVID and people are incredibly excited to be back out into the world but cautious about what the winter months bring and the economic uncertainty in the world. People are being very thoughtful about their passion points. They are focusing on spending around areas that matter to them and that brings them great joy. If you have incredible consumer value that makes a difference. Brands become even more important in those times, because people don’t want to take risks.
We have a couple new product and creating these really immersive experiences for people, whether it’s the SoundLink Flex Bluetooth portable speakers that allows you to have a bit of a soundtrack throughout the places that you want to carry a Bluetooth speaker in your world through our incredible new earbuds product. All of those things set up a remarkable holiday for us. It’s really about just creating unbelievable content around the community of music fans to help celebrate their passions as we go through the holiday into the new year.
