LEBRON JAMES. Lionel Messi. Shohei Ohtani. What do these athletes have in common? Besides being at the very top of their respective sports, they’re all Beats ambassadors.
There’s a reason why the pros trust Beats. And that trust isn’t given lightly, it’s earned. Few brands can rival such a high level of trust from the world’s premier athletes. Except, perhaps, Nike. If two brands of such stature were to ever collaborate, it would be a pretty big deal – and that’s exactly what they’ve done. The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 – Nike Special Edition has arrived, celebrating the role sound plays in sport, training and performance.
The uniting of two global forces is, obviously, special. But the partnership is significant for another reason: it’s the first time in history that Beats has shared physical space on a product with another brand.
The earbuds themselves tell the story. The right bud carries the unmistakable Nike swoosh, while the left features the Beats logo. The charging case is matte black with a speckled finish in Nike’s signature Volt colourway. Inside the lid sits one of sport’s most recognisable mantras: JUST DO IT.
For Oliver Schusser, Apple’s Vice President of Music, Sports and Beats, the partnership felt inevitable. “For us, it was a very obvious choice,” he says. “Beats has been in the headphone business for 20 years and we make premium products. We work in culture, we work with athletes, we’re very performance focused and we believe that we are the best at what we do. If you look at Nike, you could almost repeat the exact same thing.”
Both brands have built their reputations in the overlap between sport and culture. Nike has long represented aspirational athleticism (their inclusive, foundational mantra, “If you have a body, you are an athlete”, says it all). Beats, meanwhile, has cemented itself as the go-to provider of the soundtrack to performance. “There’s a particular synergy between our two brands,” Schusser says.
The launch campaign captures that connection through one of the most recognisable athletes on the planet: LeBron James. The basketballer is both a Beats and a Nike ambassador, making him the ideal face of the campaign. “We’ve been working with LeBron for over a decade,” Schusser says. “He was involved in the first Powerbeats launch. The good thing is he really loves our products.”
In the campaign, James appears not as the four-time NBA champion fans know, but something far more relatable: a beginner golfer. The concept plays on the universal sporting truth that even the best athletes become novices when they try something new. In the video, James receives advice from people around him on how to improve his swing, but ultimately chooses to follow his own rhythm by tuning out his critics’ voices with the Powerbeats Pro 2’s active noise cancellation.
In addition to being both a Nike and a Beats ambassador, James also represents something broader: the modern athlete’s relationship with music. Across sports, music has become part of the mental preparation athletes rely on to reach peak performance. To enter the zone on demand, some use stretching or visualisation. Others use breathwork. But, for a growing number of athletes, the process begins with music. “They all have their own rituals and routines,” Schusser says. “But music is part of almost all of them.”
Over years of working with athletes, Beats has learned that the psychological shift before competition can be just as important as the physical preparation. “When we talk to athletes, getting in the right mindset – or getting in the zone – is extremely important,” Schusser says. “There’s no better way to get into the zone than with a pair of headphones that give you premium sound quality.”
That mindset isn’t limited to elite athletes. The same ritual plays out every day among runners heading out before sunrise or gym-goers pushing through a final set. “It’s the same for you and I,” Schusser says. “Music is such a universal language and we all use it for these similar purposes.”
Unlike many brands that rely heavily on sponsorship deals, Schusser says the relationship between Beats and athletes has often grown organically. “We don’t go out and pay people to promote our products,” he says. “We’re in the lucky position that a lot of them come to us.”
That credibility has helped Beats headphones become something more than just a piece of technology. For many athletes, they’re now part of the kit. Products like Powerbeats sit alongside apparel and footwear as tools that prepare the mind as much as the body.
Beats has always been tied closely to the culture of movement. And like many things in sport today, that culture exists somewhere between performance and self-expression. Walk into any gym or run club and you’ll see carefully chosen shoes, coordinated outfits and personal style woven into the training environment. The same dynamic applies to audio gear. “A big one,” Schusser says when asked how much of a role self-expression plays in product choice. “People see our products as a fashion accessory.”
That philosophy shapes the way Beats approaches design, experimenting with colours and collaborations that allow users to express their personality. The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 – Nike Special Edition pushes that idea further. The volt colour palette (long associated with Nike’s most performance-focused footwear) adds visual energy. And it speaks to the intensity of training culture today, because whether you’re chasing an Olympic medal, an NBA title, or simply a new personal best, the ritual often begins the same way.
The Powerbeats Pro 2 – Nike Special Edition will be available to purchase on Saturday, March 20, for $399.95 AUD at apple.com/au.
