For those about to masturbate (intellectually)

I always loved dissecting Marketing stints. I find them socially fascinating, either for the idea in itself or for the evolution of the buzz over time and the actual commercial results.

In regards to the "ideas" part, I could write chapters on fantastic marketing concepts that never found their audience and ended up as big flops although everything was perfectly thought through. And other chapters on all the great concepts which became successful by reaching a totally different target than the one it was aiming in the first place.

But the "buzz" part is also very intriguing. It's about how the public reacts to these ideas. And among this audience, you have 2 categories, the actual potential consumers and the commentators/influencers, people (like myself) who think their opinion is interesting. And I personally enjoy watching this part unfold and trying to identify the different phases and how everyone plays a role in it.

Now that Social Networks are allowing us to instantly gauge the overall trend and reactions of the public to an event, it's easy to analyze the different phases if you pay attention.

The Moonswatch collab is an event it itself and a very interesting case. Again we identify 5 phases :

1) the surprise of the teasing period

2) the shock of the announcement

3) the massive relay

4) the first critics

5) the analyses

?1) The teasing phase started about a week before the release with some very clever visuals mixing the 2 brands logos. I even saw people saying that the visuals were a printing mistake or a marketing blunder before realizing that it was definitely made on purpose. It clearly made people talk and scratch their head.

2) the shock because even though people tried to imagine what the announcement would be, nobody really thought about this kind of collab. This was really a first !

3) And because it was so crazy, it has been relayed by every single influencer or watch journalist. Just a few days before Watches and Wonders, the operation completely hijacked the headlines. The long lines in front of the stores were also heavily displayed, transforming the buzz into concrete success.

4) First critical comments started to appear about the insane speculation, the overall quality of the item or the possible impacts on each brand. The comparison between the lines in front of Swatch stores and the ones at the Ukrainian borders were violent but a pretty valid point sociologically speaking.

5) and then, the last 2 days, I have seen debates on whether the collab was better for Swatch and possibly hurting Omega's brand equity in the long term or the other way around. this is the phase where reason finally overcomes passion.

?These 5 phases are pretty much always happening for any kind of buzz, with a different intensity depending on the industry or the involvement of your first circle network. There is a 6th one, the phase when we move on. Because something else happens and the buzz fades away. And this is probably the most interesting point.

I am often asked by students/colleagues/coonections about such and such collab (because some of them make sense, some not and this one....was clearly unexpected), their long-term impact on the 2 brands, which brand is feeding off the other and my answer is always the same : it's business. Let's not overthink this, let's not over-analyze. If your brand's strategy is based on collabs, then yes you have an issue but if it's a yearly event then it's purely commercial. It's great publicity and it generates extra sales for a short period of time.

And then it's back to business as usual for both brands.

I have heard many times that Hublot was doing too many collabs, it's now one of the hottest brands on the market, bigger than many more established maisons. I have heard the Tiffany and Supreme collab was cliché and dangerous...the jeweler has never been so hot among young customers because the collab was a perfect element within a much wider strategy.

Does the Moonswatch collab make sense ? Usually in a classic collab, each brand is trying to get attention from a market segment it is not reaching yet or they are aiming to reconnect with their existing customers on a different level, but in this case, let's just say it was totally unexpected and clearly not in the books. I have no words. I honestly do not know and maybe because it's the question that does not make sense after all.

Let's stop masturbating on this, these are great commercial coups, nothing less and nothing more. The Moonswatch operation is pure genious. It was well executed and will probably be a commercial success. It was a very bold move and we should salute audacity in the watchmaking world.

(because I could not finish an article without a music reference)

(for those who do n get the reference, it's not an actual picture of myself)

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