Famous watchmaker Audemars Piguet was rewarded in Paris during the “Grand Prix Stratégies Firstluxe.com du luxe 2010” for the “Royal Oak Offshore Grand Prix” digital campaign carried out in partnership with Swiss company IC-Agency, specialized in Luxury Digital-Marketing.
Created in 2005, the Grand Prix Stratégies du Luxe has been rewarding campaigns from the biggest French and international brands based on their relevance, creativity and integration within the corporate strategy for 5 years.
Audemars Piguet has been rewarded with a mention for the Luxury Social Media and Online Advertising international campaign carried out with IC-Agency for the launch of the “Royal Oak Offshore Grand Prix” model produced as a limited edition for the Formula 1 Bahrain GP in March 2010.
A true commercial success – the whole collection had been sold at the end of the campaign, this operation has been an online achievement as well. Within 6 weeks, 250 million impressions were delivered to the target audience. With more than 26’000 new qualified Fans on Facebook, increased brand awareness in search engines and controlled acquisition costs despite the use of premium websites, this international multiplatform campaign managed with the support of IC-Agency was able to leverage the best of digital opportunities to address Audemars Piguet’s ambitions.
For David Sadigh, CEO of IC-Agency, « Audemars Piguet is a very high-end, iconic watchmaking brand particularly active in the field of digital. We are proud that our 100% Swiss partnership, uniting the teams of Audemars Piguet in Le Brassus and IC-Agency in Geneva, was rewarded during this event.”
This 2010 edition of the “Grand Prix Stratégies Firstluxe.com du luxe” was won by Hermès for the event, participative website dedicated to the “Voyage d’Hermès” perfume.
The daily newspaper Le Temps has asked IC-Agency’s Marc-Olivier Peyer to shed some light on the new European regulations affecting luxury product e-commerce on June 1st.
Prestigious international newspapers and press agencies publish today their first stories about the watchmaking industry, to coincide with the opening day of BaselWorld.
IC-Agency is featured in today’s New York Times, Bloomberg and BusinessWeek :
"In
China, a quarter of all Internet searches for watch brands last year
were for Omega, compared with Rolex’s 18 percent, according to IC
Agency, which analyzed 500 million search queries in a study of 10
countries."
"Mr.
Pedraza’s conviction rests on the notion that luxury shoppers fall into
one of two broad categories, the status-driven and the pragmatists, and
that brick-and-mortar retailers will always appeal to the former. David
Sadigh, managing partner of the IC-Agency, a digital marketing firm
based in Geneva, said, “Most haute horlogerie consumers would prefer to
buy offline — that is the current pattern. But there is a segment more
open to buy online. They would like to put their American Express card
down and get their product as soon as possible.”
As
Internet retailing continues to outperform other retail channels, both
Mr. Pedraza and Mr. Sadigh are confident that more Swiss brands will
embrace e-commerce, though, by the latter’s reckoning, they will
primarily come from the mid-range segment."
SIHH 2010: The Haute Horlogerie under the WorldWatchReport’s magnifying glass
The Premiere WorldWatchReport 2010 is launched today exclusively for the opening day of the SIHH in Geneva.
Among the main trends revealed by the 2010 report:
Despite a gloomy economical context, demand expressed for Haute Horlogerie brands registers a 14% increase in 2009.Alexa Traffic Rank for htt
Facebook becomes the biggest online community for watch fans, with more than 300'000 declared aficionados. Hublot is the most popular brand there with 56’000 fans.
Emerging markets from the BRIC already account for 12% of global demand for luxury watches on the Internet.
The 6th edition now includes:
BRIC markets Brazil, Russia, India and China
Additional contributions from opinion leaders of the industry
Social Media impact, measured through historical data
The market study is carried out by IC-Agency and published in partnership with Europa Star "the most influential watch magazine", with the precious support of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie. It will be officially released during BaselWorld 2010.
Brand protection on Google soon to become a luxury?
With Google's AdWords advertising system currently in place, luxury brands are losing all control of the use of their name on the search engine.
For the past 7 years, a legal battle has been unfolding on the European scene of which the result could send shockwaves throughout the online advertising domain. The protagonists? LVMH and Google.
The american giant, an inevitable point of contact between brands and their clients, holds on average 90% of the online search market in the Europeen Union. This is particularly true for the 5 top export markets for the Swiss watchmaking industry in Europe - France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain.
What has Google done to become the target of the "number one" in luxury? In middle of these tensions is the advertising system Google AdWords, which allows the purchasing of keywords that make ads appear for specific queries.
The presence of Hublot on Facebook has caught IC-Agency’s attention. With more than 50,000 fans, the
"Hublot Genève" page has moved to the top, surpassing Cartier and Tag Heuer, who were until now top leaders on the social network for more than a year.
While 440% represents the average increase of new fans for all watch brands, Hublot’s performance represents an increase of 2500%.
The opportunity to reach 400 millions potential contacts on the largest community website has not escaped Jean-Claude Biver’s attention, CEO of the brand, contacted by IC-Agency, who commented on the brand’s results:
"I am pleased to learn that these results demonstrate that we are a young, high-end brand. It may be the consequence of our general activities on the Net. I think we should use all tools available online without neglecting any of them.
Book Release: "La communication horlogère - Stratégies et nouvelles technologies"
Available at last! We strongly recommend reading the book "La communication horlogère - Stratégies et nouvelles technologies" which brings together the contributions made during the 12th Journée Internationale du Marketing Horloger, organized last year in La-Chaux-de-Fonds by the Association de Journées de Marketing.
APlease note the remarkable work done by the book editors in transcribing the analysis and debates, as well as the various research efforts needed for the occasion. You can purchase the book here.
The 13th edition of this event was held on November 26th, discussing "L'utilisateur Horloger dans un Monde en Mutation". Rich and exciting discussions were had by the participants in the presence of specialists like Antonio Calce, CEO Corum, Emmanuel Vuille, General Manager Greubel Forsey, Nathalie Veysset, Director De Witt, Françoise Bezzola, Marketing and Communication director TAG Heuer and Gregory Pons from Business Watches & Jewelry.
IC-Agency Participates in the HowToSpendIt.com Launch
The renowned How To Spend It magazine has launched its innovative new website: Howtospendit.com
The Financial Times had chosen Switzerland, more precisely the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne, to organize the launch last October 8th.
IC-Agency made a presentation on "The Essentials of Luxury Digital Marketing”, addressing relevant issues such as the importance of decoding the online environment of its target audience or social media integration.
This was followed by a presentation by DynamicLogic (WPP) and by Razorfish / Avenue A (Publicis) which developed the new Howtospendit.com platform.
Discover the presentation "The Essentials of Luxury Digital Marketing"
by Yves-Alain Schwaar, Head of Consulting & Operations, IC-Agency
What are the most important points that need to be addressed before doing online marketing?
Do Luxury shoppers search for your brand online?
How can E-advertising campaigns be effective for Luxury Brands?
How to balance social media and the need for exclusive communication?
In addition to the slides from the presentation available below, please find all videos from this exclusive event on http://www.youtube.com/FTStrategicSales.
Our Client, Tag Heuer, Honoured For Its Internet Strategy
Our client Tag Heuer has been honoured for its Internet strategy in a recent study conducted by New York University.
This distinction highlights the numerous efforts undertaken by the luxury watch brand in order to position themselves effectively online.
Among the strengths indentified by the author of the study, search engine optimization, which is managed internationally by IC-Agency, was a crucial factor. In fact, the strategy not only includes Google, Yahoo and Bing but also search engines such as Baidu and Yandex, which are leaders in China and Russia, respectively.
The development of rich multimedia content and the proactivity of the brand on social networks have also contributed to Tag Heuer’s ascension into the top ranks.
