Carphone Warehouse is tapping into the soothing ASMR video craze
In a bid to help Brits with the stress of sleep deprivation, Carphone Warehouse has produced a series of videos filmed on the new Sony Xperia XZ1 handset that are designed to trigger an ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) experience and ultimately help reduce the nation’s day-to-day anxiety levels.
The retailer quizzed more than 2,000 British adults over what aspect of their lives gave rise to heightened sensations of stress and anxiety. A lack of sleep leading the pack among 38% of respondents.
Carphone Warehouse, in partnership with Sony, believes that the Xperia XZ1 device can eat into those numbers by playing videos with specific sounds and visual stimuli – otherwise known as ASMR films. The soothing quality of these spots has led them to grow in popularity on YouTube.
Carphone Warehouse's own ASMR videos display actions such as blowing bubbles, ironing a shirt, plucking a guitar and running a bath. They seek to generate a physiological response in the viewer by tricking the brain into entering a relaxed mode, and are available to watch on a dedicated microsite.
Ikea released its own set of ASMR videos earlier this year.