Sheen 1

Sheen: Casio’s Rising Star

Sheen is a new women’s brand in the UK, created by Casio to offer an elegant and relevant timepiece collection that sits within £100 to £250 price bracket.

It launched in the UK last month – the first European market for Sheen – having been in Japan for some time.

Sarah Salter, Sheen’s marketing manager in the UK, describes how the brand had been developed to fit with the expectations of female watch shoppers in the UK.

Sheen was trialled in Casio’s Covent Garden standalone store, and launched with four collections totalling 31 timepieces.

Salter explains that the growing feedback in the UK – across the board, from retailers to Casio’s merchandisers – was the need for a female Casio brand to balance out the Edifice and G-Shock brands for men, and Baby-G which is more youthful.

“Casio has a much larger collection in Asia for Sheen so we put the whole collection in front of our test marketing side [in the UK] and these 31 worked,” she explains. “The Asian market loves their bling and brighter colours, whereas here people trusted the Casio brand name and wanted watches they could wear every day. We worked with various retailers to make sure they’re happy with the collection.”

Salter says the line is about elegance and classic styling; the resulting Sheen range consists mostly of bracelet timepieces, with one leather strapped model, some ceramics and a number embellished with Swarovski crystals.

The brand has also unveiled its ambassador – the actress Claire Danes, star of current hit TV show Homeland – to coincide with its launch, as seen on the cover of WatchPro this month.

“We picked her because she fits with the style of everyday elegance,” Salter says. “She’s just won an Emmy for Homeland, so it’s perfect timing.”

Sheen is launching in H Samuel stores and will roll out to wider UK retailers at a later date. It will be targeted at women aged between 25 and 50 years.

“For me it was very important to launch Sheen, as Casio is very much seen as a male watch brand so I’m really hoping to change the perception of Casio and make it more equal between female and male consumers,” Salter adds.

Sheen will launch seasonal collections with previously unused, and unconfirmed, materials to be used in the SS13 range.

 

This article was taken from the November 2012 issue of WatchPro magazine. To read a digital version of the issue click here.

 

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