Audemars Piguet and IC-Agency rewarded in Paris

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 Challenges of Exclusivity and Social Media

Luxury watch brands have not hesitated to establish their presence on Facebook.  Today, nothing is stopping this network from becoming a preferred communication, and even commercial, channel. 

Brands have a growing list of electronic tools and platforms that let them interact with consumers - read our past posts regarding moblie marketing, the iPad and tablet computers and augmented reality applications. Besides the technologies themselves, the method in which they are used merits equal attention.  Creating exclusivity and social-commerce is among these methods.

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Mobile Marketing for Luxury Watch Brands in Action

Combining the technology of smartphones and social networking to bring new clients in store is becoming a new, promising sales niche.  

2010 was promising to be the year of the smartphone.  Promise kept.  It has become commonplace to surf the Internet, read e-mail, follow news feeds anywhere one happens to be, thanks to our smartphones.  The app boom has followed suit with the commerical developement of said smartphones (iPhone, Blackberry, Samsung Galaxy, etc.) and tablets (iPad, etc.), constantly offering increased fonctionality.  We've witnessed the tipping point for the Internet where innovation, technical robustness of mobile networks (3G) and the maturity of users offer a favorable environement for creating promising commerical digital experiences for brands.

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Effectively Working Search and Social Media

 
Search Engines such as Google or Bing are taking community sites into increasing consideration.  Brands that know how to foster greater interactions on these sites can in turn see better ranking in search engines.

For finding information on the Web, search engines remain the primary tools.  And, knowing that the first search result can grab for itself up to 70% of clicks, we can reason without surprise that a website's ranking constitutes a crucial dimension of any online strategy.  Over 4 billion queries are registered daily on Google according to Comscore, a market research firm.  For luxury watch brands, there are no less than 500 million queries that searched every year, according to the WorldWatchReport 2010. Knowing how to get your site to capture this clientele looking for luxury timepieces remains a current challenge.

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Your Brand Up for Auction on Google in Europe

Google hasn’t hesitated to adjust to the latest judicial decisions in Europe : Over the last few weeks, the conditions regarding the use of registered trademarks as ekwyords in AdWords were softened for many member nations of the European Union and of the EFTA.  This post explores the major changes and their impact for trademark holders.

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Brand Ambassadors take the Spotlight during JIMH

The 14th edition of Journées Internationales du Marketing Horloger (JIMH), held on December 1 and 2 at La Chaux-de-Fonds, will focus this year on a central dimension for many barnds: ambassadors.  International celebrities, actors, athletes or musicians, the face of these pretistigious brands are also their clients, collectors and distributors, even bloggers and other influential personalities.  How are they discovered?  What impact do they have on building brand identity?  What strategies should be adopted?

David Sadigh, managing partner at IC-Agency will have the honor of sharing the secrets of the lesser-known yet strategically important field: "Ambassador Tracking", or how online data can be crucial in selecting ambassadors and integrating them in digital communications.

David Sadigh, Directeur associé d’IC-Agency aura l’honneur d’intervenir et partager les secrets d’un sujet encore peu connu mais non moins stratégique: « Ambassadors Tracking » ou comment l’utilisation des données online peut s'avérer cruciale dans le choix d’un ambassadeur puis son intégration à la communication digitale.

This can't-miss event for marketing and communication professionals in the watchmaking industry will also be an occasion to not only meet certain ambassadors - such as Sébastien Loeb, seven-time world Rally champion and ambassador for Marvin and Guillaume Nery, Free-diving record holder and ambassador for Ball Watch – but to also meet numerous brand executives such as  Antonio Calce from Corum, Richard Mille, Jean-Marc Jacot from Parmigiani or even Guillaume Tetu from Hautlence who will contribute to these discussions.

Program and registration here www.marketinghorloger.ch.

Is Luxury compatible with E-commerce?

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.

Read the article originally published in Le Temps.

Press Coverage: Bloomberg, Il Sole 24 Ore, TSR…

Overview of recent articles for which IC-Agency was solicited during the last three months:

Comment les marques de luxe reprennent le contrôle de leurs ventes sur Internet ? – Le Temps, 17 juin
Le secteur a longtemps été confronté à une distribution en ligne bas de gamme mettant en péril son image. Appuyé par une directive européenne plus favorable, le luxe tente maintenant de gérer ses propres circuits d’«e-commerce».

L’art de raconter des histoires pour convaincre – Swissquote Magazine, 9 juin
Pour séduire investisseurs et consommateurs, les entreprises ont de plus en plus recours aux techniques du storytelling. Exemples, entre auto-mythologie et vérité.

IC-Agency relie le luxe à son client final – CB Web, 31 mai
IC-Agency, une agence de 30 personnes (3 millions d’euros de CA en 2009, en croissance de 30 % /08) réparties entre Genève et Barthurst au Canada. Créée en 2000, elle est spécialisée dans le digital marketing du luxe.

Swatch Surges After CEO Says Watchmaker’s Sales Rose – Bloomberg / Business week, 26 mai
Swatch Group AG, Switzerland’s biggest watchmaker, rose the most in more than seven months in Zurich trading after Chief Executive Officer Nick Hayek Jr. said sales climbed in the first quarter.

Travaux pratiques – Le Temps, 25 mai
La toile regorge de vidéos didactiques pour apprendre à jouer de la guitare, se maquiller à la façon de Lady Gaga, renforcer ses abdos ou survivre à une attaque de zombies. Un phénomène à la hausse qui intéresse les marques, ravies de pouvoir parler de leurs produits différemment.

La réalité augmentée pourrait faciliter les ventes sur Internet – TSR, 10 mai
Les innovations se multiplient en ce qui concerne les commandes de produits sur Internet. Des simulations en trois dimensions toujours plus poussées permettent à l'internaute de se représenter l'objet comme s'il était devant lui.

VENTES EN LIGNE - Le luxe affûte encore son commerce digital – Worldtempus, 4 mai
Récemment, Richemont annonçait le rachat du site de vente de produits de luxe Net-a-porter.com tandis que Longines inaugurait son magasin virtuel focalisé uniquement sur les Etats-Unis.

China Swatch Partner Hengdeli’s Sales May Grow 30% – Bloomberg / BusinessWeek, 3 mai
Hengdeli Holdings Ltd., the retail partner of Swatch Group AG in China, said 2010 sales growth may be the fastest in three years as it expands market share and Chinese consumers splash out on luxury watches and jewelry.

Cresce il falso d’autore dichiarato – Il Sole 24 Ore, 26 avril
Il business viaggia prevalentemente sul web e riguarda soprattutto orologi di lusso, profumi e design.

Les gagnants de l’internet suisse – Bilan, 6 avril
Sur la centaine de sites qui se lancent en Suisse chaque mois, 5% seulement rentabilisent leur activité. Le secret? Être le premier dans son domaine et fidéliser la clientèle avant que des concurrents ne fassent leur apparition.

Luxury Interactive - Internet, top information source for luxury

We participated to Luxury Interactive Global, the yearly conference gathering luxury and Internet professionals. What are the trends in online performance measurement and PR for luxury brands?

Read the original article published on Worldtempus.

Watch Marketing – Luxury Communications

Here is a copy of an article David Sadigh published in AGEFI on March 19, 2010 about watch marketing to coincide with the opening of Salon BaselWorld 2010.

There are several similarities between luxury watches and private banks. They’re both important industries for our country that must face intense outside competition, they both rely on Switzerland’s image, they cover a wide range of jobs, and above all,  the brands’ reputations mean everything when trying to win over a client’s trust. Also, exclusivity and quality of service are important factors for success.

But there are also some notable differences.

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