The brand
The Finnish company Joy Planet Finland Oy manufactures earphones for women with small ears
Heikki Leskelä, the founder of Joy Planet Finland Oy, came across a recurring challenge in connection with his sports hobby. Women in particular were dissatisfied with their headphones.
- Headphones that were too big simply didn't work. They wanted to fall and lose constantly. The sound quality wasn't good either, because the headphones couldn't be placed at the right distance from the eardrums, says Leskelä.
- I started researching the matter. As a result, I found out that up to 25% of women feel that they have small ears. The target group I originally thought was small was huge, even a billion women, says Leskelä.
Hundreds of women have been involved in the design work. Sporting women in particular have had challenges in finding suitable headphones. One of the first testers was hurdler Nooralotta Neziri.
- I love sports, but I also love music. As a person with small ears, I haven't been able to find headphones that would stay in my ears even during training. In addition to the small ear piece, the small size and lightness of the devices themselves are also important, says Neziri.
The development of small earphones is not only possible by scaling the size. The placement of Bluetooth antennas is difficult in a small size. A person with small ear canals can also have perfectly normal sized ears. In this case, the passage of the signal may be blocked, because the human skin is quite an effective insulator. On the other hand, there has also been a lot to do with battery technology.
- We started the development work in 2020, but we didn't finish the first pieces until the end of 2022. It required 19 rounds of development and endless time, says Heikki Leskelä.
The company's first financial period ended at the end of 2023. Turnover was 880,000 euros and the company made a positive result. 15,000 pairs of earphones were sold, mostly to Finland. The goals for 2024 are huge.
- This year we want to sell 100,000 pairs, and we are investing especially in export. There are people with small ears in other places than in Finland, laughs Leskelä.
In addition to women with small ears, ecology and customer satisfaction are at the center of the company's operations. The shipping envelope of the product is not only a plastic-free package, but also a user manual. The sturdy case of the headphones, on the other hand, also serves as a charging dock. Especially the guarantees offered by the company have delighted customers.
- In addition to our three-year normal warranty, we offer a special loss warranty. It means that the first lost part will be replaced with a new one free of charge. For a small-sized product, we consider it reasonable, concludes Leskelä.
JOY - positive vibes.
Our four core values are:
JOYfulness - Our mission is to create better audio experiences and generate positive feelings and vibes in everyday moments. JOY is all about sharing joy via audio.
Enthusiasm - we love to create better and better audio experiences, as well as inspire and be inspired by the people around us. TinyS is a perfect example of where such enthusiasm can take us!
Helping - we are on a journey together with our customers and partners. We appreciate this journey and express it every day through words and actions.
Sustainability - We love the Planet. We try to minimize waste. We have carefully chosen the packaging materials, minimized the package size, helped our customers recycle, and offered them a loss warranty to prolong the product cycle.