The Elegance of Relevance

The tagline read: Elegance is an Attitude.?The ads featured Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.?The problem was: they can’t show up for a personal appearance – stock and trade for retail relations and selling watches.

Longines, one of the 20+ brands inside the Swatch Group, fell under my charge as CMO when I joined the company in 2004.?“Elegance is an Attitude” was a the new global ad campaign and featured the classic Hollywood icons in black & white photos we’ve all seen. (yawn)

?“Elegance” means different things to different people. As the newly minted CMO across 12 brands, how do I tap into Longines’ tagline but make it relevant to today’s consumer? ?Surely, we can do better than dead celebrities, I thought.

Sometimes the relevance is apparent.?Sometimes you need to mine for it.?As a former agency veteran, the plan I fashioned was fairly straight-forward – to the Swiss, it could have been high heresy.?Here’s how it went:

I commissioned a survey through Harris: the Longines Elegance in America Survey – designed to ascertain exactly how Americans viewed “elegance.”?Most elegant time of year; what constitutes elegant dress; which brands were considered elegant.?And which celebrities.?

Harris surveyed 5,000 people in various age groups and the results were interesting.?To announce those results, I tapped a tenured friend and current TV star Stacy London from What Not to Wear.?

Stacy gave voice to the survey results – some were foregone conclusions (yes, Christmas is most elegant); some were surprising/counterinitiative: younger folks thought ball gowns and tuxedos exemplified “elegant” while Boomers felt suits and cocktail attire were more like it. ?There was also a gender divide: men found eyes the most elegant body part while women felt the neck and hands most illustrate elegance; even vacation destinations: women preferred the Hamptons or Carmel-by-the-Sea while the guys liked Aspen.

Beyond gaining great traction around our definition of elegance, the best part of our results was discovering our new “face”: Harry Connick. Jr.

Among the celebrities listed, he rose to the top as “elegant.”?We approached his team and after some negotiation, signed him to replace Audrey & Humphrey.

Think about it – he’s a piano player, singer and entertainer – the camera would be on his wrist much of the time, right? Boom!

Moreover, OMEGA, big brother to Longines and the second biggest watch brand in the world, is the top seller globally for Swatch Group EXCEPT in Australia where Longines outpaces it.?As fate would have it, Harry is had a huge fanbase in Australia.

Without knowing it, I landed on a goldmine – we made hay of the photoshoots with Harry; gained news and entertainment traction with the announcements; held a gala event in Las Vegas as he opened a short residency; supported his Broadway run.?And Longines supported his tour in Australia.?Sales increased as a result of the new, holistic campaign.?Harry was literally CHOSEN by the public – something he did not even know until the day of the photoshoot.

All of this spawned from the notion that elegance can be different to different people -?meaning its relevance changes by audience.

If you ever need an outsider to look at your work – to see it through a different lens, LOCC is at your service.?If you want a clever approach, something a little left of center, well, that’s our stock and trade.?Just ask Harry.