As part of its March issue, WatchPro took an in-depth look at the boom in licensed fashion watch brands, those becoming bestsellers in stores and the online buzz among fashion fans sharing their purchases on the web. Find out which brands are making the most of online marketing through fun, consumer-facing initiatives.
In the run up to Valentine’s Day, Michael Kors announced an online campaign on Facebook, which asked fans to share photographs through the mobile phone app Instagram.
The brand encouraged its Facebook fans to “show us what’s captured your heart” by taking a photograph on their mobile phone and uploading it to Instagram with the label #FallingInLoveWith. In return, Michael Kors offered them the chance to win a gift from the brand.
Hundreds of people entered, most of them sharing an image of their Michael Kors watch, worn stacked up with bracelets or alongside a handbag from the brand. This marketing tool not only showed how popular the Michael Kors watch brand was, but also how it is being worn and gave an impression of the type of young women – and men – who had brought into the brand.
And the effect of showing off your watch with a grainy-hued photo, with your handbag slung over your forearm? The more watches seen on screen, the more desirable they instantly become as a fashion product.
Andrew Warren of Identity Jewellers in Derby notes that this type of promotion is especially effective for selling licensed watch brands. “In using modern media trends such as Facebook or Twitter [brands are] connecting directly with people who desire them. I feel this may be the cause behind why fashion brands are making a bigger impact on the modern watch market, where consumers are moving away from the classic luxury Swiss high-end watches and going for more affordable fashion brands that they can associate with,” he explains.
Indeed, this association goes beyond just fashion. Brands such as Guess Watches have got innovative by teaming with world-famous DJ Tiësto to launch collaborative timepiece that was promoted simultaneously across a number of channels in the realms of fashion and music. At a more urban level, Timex licensed brand Marc Ecko Unltd. last year produced its Exhibit collection, teaming with eight global graffiti artists for a collection of colourful watches that would reach consumers and fans of the artists across the world.
This feature was taken from the March issue of WatchPro. To read the magazine in full online, click here.
