International Media Coverage for IC-Agency

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."

Read the article  "Rolex’s Swiss Watch Hegemony Threatened by ‘Trendier’ Omega"

"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."

Read the article "Watch Brands Signing on, Uneasily, for E-Tailing"

BaselWorld - Results of the WorldWatchReport 2010 Revealed

• 6th Edition
• 500 million searches
• 10 markets – including the BRIC
• 25 watch brands
• 120 ambassadors
• 450 most popular models
• A unique “replica” intention filter
• 16 International Invited Contributors

• Global demand for watch brands has increased by 24.5%
• China dominates BRIC : 59% of demand originates from the Middle Kingdom
• Counterfeits: for the first time, demand for counterfeit products decreased by 22% in the U.S., while increasing in the European markets
• Facebook: watch brands have an average of 18'400 fans. Hublot becomes the first brand to surpass 100’000 fans.

TAG Heuer Chooses IC-Agency for its Social Media Strategy

Founded by Edouard Heuer in 1860 in a small village in Jura Switzerland, TAG Heuer has become the worldwide leader in sports chronographs. This year, the emblematic Swiss brand celebrates its 150th anniversary. For the occasion, TAG Heuer has formed a visionary partnership with Tesla Motors, the Californian electric car brand.

Details of this pioneering venture between the two brands will be unveiled at Baselworld.

TAG Heuer has chosen IC-Agency, leader in Luxury Digital Marketing and author of the WorldWatchReport™ study, to conceive and launch a social media strategy tied to this historic event. The goal is to offer TAG Heuer, owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton, online visibility that corresponds to the importance of this anniversary and partnership with Tesla.

“We have chosen IC-Agency for their sharp social media skills, as well as the pragmatism of their approach” indicates Françoise Bezzola, Director of Communication for TAG Heuer.

The custom methodology created by IC-Agency for TAG Heuer will be launched, most notably, on Facebook: “Analysis by IC-Agency has confirmed that tens of thousands of watch fans, and TAG Heuer aficionados in particular, are active on Facebook and are more than willing to interact with our brand, especially through our Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/TAGHeuer” says Françoise Bezzola.

At the recent Geneva International Motor Show, Jean-Christophe Babin, president and CEO of TAG Heuer, became one of the first luxury brand CEOs to address the Facebook community with a personal message. This message, posted live from the Tesla Motors exhibit, was received by over 45’000 TAG Heuer fans.

“We have to realize that 220 million people connect to Facebook every day and that Facebook is the most downloaded app on the iPhone. This site has become as ubiquitous as Google” indicates David Sadigh, Managing Partner at IC-Agency – and adds “With our studies, we were able to map out the way an exclusive brand can secure its position in the open environment that is social media. It’s the fruits of our research in Luxury Digital Marketing that we will place at TAG Heuer and Tesla’s disposal to create the digital conversation.”

TAG Heuer, who already works with IC-Agency, notably for their search engine optimization strategy, was lauded in 2009 and qualified as “Genius” for its excellence in Digital Marketing in a study by New York Stern University.

The first results of this collaboration will be present during Baselworld through a Social Media Reporter, which will provide news and updates from several online communities.

Social Media Marketing Will Be Present at EHL

IC-Agency will have the honor of participating in Forum Professionel 2010, organized by École Hôtelière de Lausanne, on March 23rd.

The event, whose theme is “Adding Value to Your Business through Social Media Marketing’, will bring  together managers, researchers and decision-makers from various industries and encourage them to discuss and debate, both formally and informally.

The idea of integrating social media into marketing and communication strategies will be front and center during the 10th edition of the Forum.

No less than 8 invitees will share their ideas, including Farhan Lalji, European Marketing Operations Manager for Yahoo!, François Rüf, CEO Netbreeze and Dr. Eric R. Spangenberg, Dean of the College of Business at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, USA.

David Sadigh, associate director at IC-Agency, will present his analysis of the approaches used on Facebook and other social platforms by high-range brands like Harley Davidson, Burberry and Louis Vuitton.

For more information, consult the event’s programme and list of speakers.

IC-Agency Speaks With AGEFI

In an interview with Anne Réthoret, journalist with AGEFI, IC-Agency answers questions by the Swiss daily economic publication for a large article devoted to buzz marketing in Switzerland.

The article “Les limites du buzz marketing” shown in a recent issue, exposes the view points of several experts on the subject, including Emmanuel Vivier of Vanksen, Nicolas Pittet of Details Agency and Florent Bondoux of IC-Agency. They discuss the challenges involved in launching a successful buzz marketing campaign in Switzerland.

Read the article here.

Valentine’s Day: Online Seductions

For an overview of the strategies used by Boucheron, Cartier, Omega, Hublot, Blancpain, Longines and Raymond Weil, read Saint-Valentin:Opérations Séductions, an article by IC-Agency in collaboration with Louis Nardin, as shown in Worldtempus. 

SIHH 2010: Under Blog Siege

One week after the SIHH ended, almost 2,000 blog articles had been published on the Internet. An analysis of the phenomenon and most publicized brands.

This twentieth edition of the SIHH was marked by the presence of a number of bloggers perusing the brands’ stands alongside journalists belonging to both broad and specialized press. Just a few years ago, these web editors would have had to wait for the magazine coverage to take place before being able to write their own articles and blogs providing their points of view on the new products. Today, certain bloggers are even invited by the brands themselves, certainly a sign of evolution within the PR machinery, which may now place more consideration on this new—and perhaps generational—type of communication. This is a tendency confirmed by Fabienne Lupo, director of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH), who confided to the website businessmontres.com, “The SIHH, like the entire industry, has profited from the Internet communication boom, which has provided a great deal of visibility, especially considering that this fair is a private one. The web journalists are of course less numerous, though they represent a constant progression: a few dozen in comparison to the more than 1,300 print journalists present at the show.”

 

Read the full article by IC-Agency, in collaboration with Louis Nardin, as it appeared on Worldtempus.

Strong Growth for IC-Agency in 2009

• Business revenue increased by over 30% in 2009
• The Client Services team has grown with the arrival of Marc Betting and Youri Hazanov
• More job openings will be created in 2010 in Geneva

Despite a difficult economic context, IC-Agency has seen a growth in its revenue of over 30% while maintaining profitability. These numbers confirm the relevance of IC-Agency’s luxury positioning and its hybrid business model comprising of services for high range clients as well as offering the best e-marketing software.

“Our unique Luxury Digital Marketing approach together with the international visibility obtained through the WorldWatchReport study and being invited by the Financial Times to participate in Howtospendit.com’s launch have been real commercial accelerators” indicates David Sadigh, associate director.

IC-Agency has also taken a significant lead in Social Media. “We have produced several innovative projects which have translated into results such as Facebook communities with tens of thousands of fans” says Yves-Alain Schwaar, Director of Operations.

2010: Building Teams and Client Services

In January, IC-Agency has added to its Client Services team with the additions of Marc Betting as Head of Client Services and Youri Hazanov as e-Marketing Project Manager.

As Head of Client Services, Marc Betting is responsible for the entire Client Services team as well as any external consultants. As such, he will coordinate all mandates and ensure proper planning with the goal of maintaining a high level of quality and expertise despite growth.

Marc has a background in IT/Telecom engineering. With a Masters in Commerce from ESIDEC, a Diploma in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Cachan and Cisco CCNA and CCDA certification, he has worked in Silicon Valley for several years, most notably on large commercial accounts for Global Crossing and Savvis. He then started an e-commerce specialty win company backed by an online community of fans before joining IC-Agency.

As e-Marketing Project Manager, Youri is in charge of a portfolio of e-marketing mandates consisting of international SEO projects. As a Russian-speaker, he will also be in charge of the Russian market for IC-Agency’s clients, a market of strategic importance in the luxury sector.

Youri has earned a Masters in Information Systems as well as an MBA from the University of Geneva. He has been a consultant in communication and public relations, as well as web marketing and has worked in Washington.

As a part of IC-Agency’s management team along with Yves-Alain Schwaar and David Sadigh, Marc-Olivier Peyer, former Head of Client Services now becomes Head of Research and Development and will be responsible for the creation, launch and maintenance of IC-Agency’s software, including Consumetrics and Brandsweeper. At least 2 developer jobs will be created within his team in 2010.