Christmas is the perfect
occasion to gain leverage on sales and both brands understood that well.
On one hand, there is Ice-watch which is about to
launch their new season special: the Ice-Xmas.
Still around that theme,
Ice-Watch created an app on Facebook. It is a game relative to the Advent
Calendar that started on December 1st and that will end on the 24th.
The Ice-Xmas game offers the opportunity to win a set of 4 watches that
are worth 300€ to 600€!
As for Swatch’s season
special, it is the Red Knit that came in
a limited edition. The watch is already selling at 90€ and comes in a box with an adorable hot water bottle with the patterns
of Christmas.
For which temptation
will you succumb to? In any case, we wish you a merry Christmas!
There is two types of brand ambassadors, the one that the brand employed to promote the brand and the loyal customers that promote the brand just because they love it.
Swatch Brand Ambassadors
Swatch has two kind of ambassadors, the ones related to sports and the other one related to creativity.
For the sports ambassadors, Swatch has 25 successful athletes called the Pro-Team. A watch has been designed for each member of the Pro-Team and they wear it on different events to reach the communities associated with these events. As it is successful athletes, people admire them. They can know which are their favorites Swatch watches on Swatch website. These ambassadors contribute the young, cool and dynamic image of the brand. As only top snowboarders, surfers or FMX riders can be Swatch's ambassadors each year, the brand is never associated with only one member.
For the ambassadors that are not athletes, Swatch choose people with common values like creative diversity with Mika and its watch Kukulakuku or OFF of the artist José Carlos Casado.
The black slice is a reminder, the artist says, to “take time off” – 5
seconds every minute, 5 minutes every hour – to do something completely
different. (Swatch.com)
Swatch has a huge and loyal communities with many brand ambassadors. They can interact with the brand on socila media but also by joining the Swatch Club, the "home of the Swatch fan". Brand Ambassadors can be rewarded for their love with special advantages: special items, events, opportunities to be more involve with the brand, goodies and fun! People feel included, rewarded and can share their enthusiasm. Swatch has been counting on its loyal ambassadors for years, since the brand has thirty years.
Ice Watch
Ice Watch's ambassadors are celebrities like the Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry... The brand hire famous people to attract its young and trendy customers. Their strategy is pretty usual, celebrities endorse the brand and create brand awarness, brand favourability, and to enable people to imitate their idols.
Ice Watch also have a big community on the social media which can interact with the brand through Facebook. The brand responds to comments and publishes posts regularly. Customers also have blogs and share their experiences and pictures. The brand a strong community and so brand ambassadors which are exited about its watches as it is a famous trend now.
Both brands did collaborations with celebrities (who are
not necessary designers) for marketing purposes. In this article, we will go
back to the most recent collaboration for each of the two brands.
Swatch
x Mika
So
the19th of November was the day we all could have meet Mika! In fact, Mika's
signing session took place in the Swatch store of Paris, at les Champs
Elysées in this particular date.
In case you did not know, what's new for Swatch is the recent collaboration
with the well-known singer Mika. The collection "Mika 4 Swatch" is
composed two designs: one called "kukulakuku" and the other
"kukulakuki". These watches are characterizes by bright
colors, special drawings and come in fancy packages.
In order to better understand the design process that
was followed by the singer, please watch the video that follows:
Florent Manaudou is a professional swimmer andoccasionallythe Olympic champion of the 50-meters
freestyle at the London Olympic games of 2012. Yet, he is most importantly a
brand ambassador for Ice-Watch!
Indeed, "By Manaudou" is a collection made by Ice-Watch in
collaboration with the swimmer.
While this collaboration dates a bit (2012), the advert was launched recently
and you can watch it in the link below.
Swatch
is sponsoring many events about sports, the other events are part of
the Swatch club actions.
Surf
is one of the sports that Swatch is sponsoring, two major events take
place every year: the Swatch Girl Pro France and the Swatch Girl Pro
China.
Last
august was the 4th edition of the SWATCH GIRLS PRO FRANCE hosted in
the coastline of Hossegor-Seignosse. There
is only 6 worldwide events of surf and this 6-stars competition is
one of the two major surf events in France. More than 130 of the
world's top female surfers will compete for 4 days on the French
coast. Swatch is a major sponsor of The SWATCH GIRLS PRO FRANCE and
Pro Junior and the winner of this year is Courtney Conlogue, one of
the Swatch ambassadors.
Three
watches were designed in summer 2013 for the event: the Playero, the
Cuttlefish and the Chlorofish, all water-resistance (20
Bar).The event is one the most attractive and
exiting event for all the surfers' enthusiasts.
The
SWATCH GIRLS PRO CHINA was held for the first time in 2011, in
Hainan in the south of China. The annonce of this event was an
amazing news, surf was not an very popular sport in China and this
location was completely new to the surf competition. As one of the
fundamentals of surf is the quest of new exciting spot, this beach
was a wonderful idea. This year the will run from November 20 – 24,
so we will know in a few days who will be The 2013 ASP Women's World
Longboard Champion!
A
watch has been designed for the event : the Sundowner.
What
are the positive outcome for Swatch ?
Since
its beginning, Swatch wanted to be seen as an innovative and
exciting brand. The three cornerstone of
the brand philosophy are fashion, sports and art. As Arlette-Elsa
Emch explained in an interview, “Our biggest inspiration comes from
the latest fashion trends, contemporary art, as well as lifestyle
sports such as surfing or snowboarding, which are both very close to
fashion and art.”
That
is why sport sponsoring is such an huge part of its marketing
strategy. These events aimed to create positive outcome such as
profit increase or positive advertising effect.
A
profit increase is an important effect of Sport Sponsoring but it is
first of all a form of brand communication. These events bring to
Swatch brand awareness and popularity thanks to all the advertising
in the media and press release. By being associating with different
challenges, Swatch is perceived as an exciting brand. Swatch benefits
also from being associating with the sport, for example, surf is
associated with cool attitude, beach, sun and sea... Swatch go even
further by creating the Swatch Sport Collection. It is helping Swatch
creating its brand image.
The
cognitive and affective response of these sponsorship is also one of
the positive outcomes that the brand is looking for along with a
stronger social identification.
Moreover
the brand gained dynamic and young ambassadors for each sport it
sponsored. These famous athlets who support and represent the brand
are called the Proteam. Each of its ambassadors is presented on
Swatch official website: his life, his specialty, his personnality,
links to his social networks, pictures and videos of the athlete
(some on a Swatch events) and of course his 3 or 4 favourite Swacth
watches. In the surf category, the ambassadors
are Courtney Conlogue, Coco “Cokes” Ho and a French young
surfer Pauline Ado. Her favorites watches are : Wonder drift, Blue
Resolution, Boat Trip and Denim Girl for Courtney, Wonder Tube (her
first personal signature swatch watch), Resolution, In Motorino, Gilt
Ghost and Biko Bloo for Coco and Blue Softness, Lady Green,
Swatch-love Song, Wild Orange, Pink Frame and Acid Drop for Pauline.
In the Surfing longboarding category, the
ambassadors are Darci Liu, Kassia Meador. Hner favorite watches are
Mustardy, Still Alive, White Silk and Full-Blooded Marvellous Yellow
for the Chinese Pro surfer Darci and Biko Green, Mexican Mask
and White Washed Out for Kassia.
Sport
events are now a strategic tools which aim is the commitment and
engagement of its consumers.
What
about the other events ?
The
positive outcomes are the same for the Swatch Free4Style a
FMX, jet-ski and wakeboard competitions, the Swatch Freeride World
Tour, the Red Bull Crashed Ice, the Swatch Skiers Cup or the Swatch
Rocket Air or the North Face Backstyler by Swatch.
Ice
Watch's Events
Ice
Watch is also have events, during which the brand is the center of
it. While Swatch is sponsoring events about sports with big communities and brand ambassadors, Ice Watch's events are more
promotional activities.
For
example the brand held a event for the press in February 2011.
Nothing spectacular was made: a ice box was created to put products
inside, cookies with the images of the Ice Watch watches and there
was the music of the Black Eyes Peace. Guest were given a gift bag
with an Ice Watch watch.
For the
sports side, Ice Watch is still doing a Ice Watch Winter Tour, which
consists of organizing activities in restaurants, bars and night club
in nine ski stations in France. The brand is also the watch brand of
the World Padel Tour of 2013 in Spain.
On
their website we only learn about nine events, basically Ice Watch
events are exposition of their watches like the International
exhibition Moscow Watch Expo they attended in November or Flagship
Opening in Amsterdam. There are also events with no links with their
clients or business like the Airline Retail Conference that they
sponsored or the official partner of Brussels Airlines for a music
event in Belgium or a movie launching party. So Ice Watch is
sponsoring music events, business events, and some sports events, but
their strategy is not very clear, we do not know why it choose this
specific events and what is the added value.
Gemeilia Movie Lauching Party
Ice
watch is participating in some more interesting events like
humanitarian action in China according to the magazine Marie Claire
but surprinzingly there is no record of it on the web.
The outcomes of these events are not really
measurable because there are not numerous, with no link between them
and do not reach the customers.
This is the brand identity prism compare between Icewatch and Swatch. We can easily see that they have many points in common. So that's why they are competitors to each other.
Before being able to develop the points of parity and points of difference of the two brands, we have chosen to make a questionnaire. This questionnaire allows to present, despite a number of less than 100 responses, a trend about the qualities that Swatch Watches and Ice Watch ones figure in the minds of people, so as their popularity. It has be chosen to make it en French because we asked people in a Face-To-Face in the street, but also our friends on Social Networks.
The recall rate of Swatch in the question "What are 5 brands watches" reached 78%" in the survey sample. It was the most cited brand, followed by Casio with 58%. Ice watch's recall call was 29%.
We observed that for people , the 2 biggest qualities of Swatch were the Price and the Quality .For Ice Watch it was the Price and the Design.
Eventually, 80 % of the answerers prefered Swatch rather than Ice Watch.
You can see our questionnaire by clicking > here <
The POP / POD
The Points of Parity and Differences is based on this Questionnaire as well as the other articles on our blog. The project was to give a simple a short-clear mind idea about the links that exist between the two brands and in the same time emphasing their differences.
The Brand Archetypes that have been chosen comes from the course.
It has been chosen to classify Swatch and Ice Swatch as the companies see themselves .
Ice Swatch , despite the low price, stays a graceful watch that represents the order. It inherits the wise side of Swiss watches. So that Swatch can be classify as a "Magician" , the perfect blend between the "Sage" and the "Hero".
Besides, the strategy choosen by Ice Watch is quite different. The brand plays on colorful colors, on its style and don't hide the fact that it is produced on China. This is why its archetype is the "Explorer" even though it can be seen as the "Outlaw" of a market where Swatch has settles its roots since ages. Mohammed B.
This perceptual map is based of some of the big companies that are in the entry level market of watches industry. It has been chosen to classify them by price and by the feeling the brands give to themselves. Each brand has been ranked according to the feeling they give to themselves on their own website, and according to the price of their watches.
Ice Watch is not seen as an authentic watch. Though, it is a belgium watch that is produced in China, and play the fun card. On the otherside, Swatch stays every inche on the authenticity part, emphasing with the swiss cross on the logo.
The first is search brand, like FMCGs,
which customers don’t care about the brand, they just buy it and consume it.
The second is experience brand, which a
positive physical or psychological experience is necessary for repurchase.
The third is credence brand, which a high
level of trust is necessary, that’s what we called the love marks.
As we know, ice-watch is a very young
brand, which is become popular these years. People buy it, and gain a good
experience about the brand, then they may purchase again or suggest others to
buy it. So it’s an experience brand.
But for swatch, it’s definitely belongs to
a credence brand, it becomes famous for a long time. As an entrance level brand
of the Swatch Group, those luxury watch brands that can gives value to this
entrance level brand. The value transfer can make this entrance brand more
famous and gain lots of reputation that made customers highly trust it.
For example, after we proposed two watches to
the customers and don’t tell them the brand, maybe they can be attracted by the
outlook of the ice-watch in the first sight, but after show them what the brand
is, most customers will choose swatch as their first choice. Even they don’t
know that much the brand, but they know a “Swiss Made” watch can be more
trusted. And also we can see that we let people to name 5 entry level watch brands, almost everyone mentioned the Swatch. The brand Swatch has already involved in peoples life.
And for the potential problem for the
ice-watch. This brand never told customers where these watches are made from, and
the price is averagely higher than Swatch. But when someday people knows that
the ice-watch are made in china, does their customers still want to pay more to
get “made in china” watch than a “Swiss Made” watch belongs to a luxury group?
For a sustainable development thinking, I think ice-watch should take care of
this issue and prevent it to become a crisis.
Creating a brand mantra
is essential to summarize the positioning of a brand. Being designed for
internal purposes, brand mantras are not communicated to the external audience
therefore the following mantras are simple propositions.
First, let’s remind ourselves
of Swatch & Ice-Watch’s external taglines:
Based on the customer’s awareness of Swatch, customers
started to compare brand with others to see weather it delivers on it’s
potential, at this time, brand value pyramid comes out!
1. identity =who
are you= deep broad brand awareness = brand salience
As for the Swatch, launched in 1983, is more than a
wristwatch. Swatch has characters, which is essential for customers to
differentiate and identify from watch market. Firstly, we can put a lot of tags
on swatch brand like bright, colorful, funky designs, lightweight plastic
watch, as well as fast moving fashion accessory which are the core identities
of this brand; meanwhile, these physical specificities are just expressing
tangible views of Swatch brand. On the contrary, the people who wearing Swatch
are experiencing stylish, provocative, joyful and fun process simultaneously.
2. Meaning = what
are you = points of parity and differences= exist in customer’s minds related to performance and
imagery
Everyone knows a Swatch when they see one. There are some
points of differences existed in the consumer’s mind associate with Swatch
brand. Except the unique and significant characters as I mentioned last
paragraph, there must be some different stuff that make Swatch distinctive.
Firstly,
Swatch has created a bold new styling. In 1983, bold new styling, various
fashion and art designed Swatch brand had been launched, which is a milestone in
watch market inthat age.
Secondly, the reason can not be ignored
that why Swatch are famous around world is that it’s Swiss made; which means
Swatch are expose to high-technology, highly branded and fully accurate.
Meanwhile, highly skilled labor and sophisticated knowledge about making watch
promote Swatch brand to reach a new level.
Thirdly, the company now sells more than a
dozen different types of watches, for example, the Irony series, the Scuba
series, the Skin family and the Paparazzi series with internet-connect. The varieties
of products provide customers with more accesses to satisfy their demand.
Last but not least, the price, for some
targets are affordable, for others are economic, even for some people are
luxurious. Because Swatch positioned the products targeting various segments of
market, which will be able to defend against competitive attacks and emerge as
the segment leader.
3. Response = what
about you = positive and accessible reaction=brand judgment and brand feeling
Swatch is always
not a just a watch, it’s kind of way to communication. It places so much room
for their customers to express their feeling and judgment. On the Swatch side,
they provide variety of products for different age group, for different
occasions. Thus, on the customer’s side, they get their satisfaction from
Swatch brand. They’ve enjoyed their social status that Swatch brings to them;
they’ve experienced the fashion tendency that Swatch created; they’ve even been
gown up with the development of Swatch, which means that most of customers
trust this brand, and dedicate to buy and support Swatch. That’s the reason why
Swatch got so many good comments from websites. e.g. Swatch watch owner has to switch the brand Very happy with my purchase on Swithzerwatch.com A professional Jibe to the Wrist-SWATCH A swatch is a swatch is not just a watch Swatch- Fall in Love
4. Relationships =
what about you and me = intense and active loyalty=brand resonance=love
marks
Swatch has created a very good relationship
between products and customers and build strong loyalty from customers, which
bring Swatch to reach love marks level. This piece of wristwatch makes people
think life can be good with Swatch. In order to maintain or increase the
loyalty from customers, Swatch has developed a professional and intimate group
for their loyal fans. In such group, group members can enjoy their privileges;
for example, they will get access to limited Swatch watch; they will get
invitation to their unique events and promotions; they will have chance to meet
athletes and designers, and so on. Group also provides very personal service
for different customers in term of language. With these appealing premium
offers, no fan can refuse to support their beloved brand.
Ice Watch
Brand
Identity
Ice
Watch is a young brand created in 2006 in Belgium. According to its
founder and CEO, Jean-Pierre
Lutgen, the success of its brand rely on a strong brand concept. The
idea is simple: an affordable plastic and colorful watch that you can
change often. Watches are no more a luxury product of a life time but
a fashionable accessory. Everything is colorful, nothing is serious,
Ice Watch has long been compared to toy watch and even the packaging
has been inspired by the concept Lego. Change is a social value of
the new generation, because of mass consumption, they don't buy
things to last forever, they need the latest products, the latest
fashionable products.
And
Ice Watch is taking advantage of this tendency.
Change.
You can.
Ice
watch has a community of almost 5 millions facebook fans who see the
Ice Watch products as trendy, funky and fashionable. The product is
easily recognizable, the brand identity is well communicated.
Brand Meaning
Ice
Watch identified that people wanted changeable watches, that match
their clothes and moods. The performance of the brand is good as it
meet its customers needs on design, style and price. Comparing with
other brands, Ice Watch is fashionable and young thanks to its
marketing campaign. People do not often know it is produced in China
so the product image is not damaged and people think it is a good
quality product.
The
brand also meet its customers' needs on the social and psychological
level. Indeed people wear it to be seen as fashionable, it is the
latest crave. Thanks to the advertising campaigns featuring stars
like David Guetta, the Black Eyed Peas, Avril Lavigne, the brand is
seen as a popular, young and dynamic. Thanks to worldwide famous
stars wearing this watch, the brand has a high social value. Its
marketing campaigns are very efficient.
Brand
Response
Customers
make judgment about brands, according to them, Ice Watch is not of
bad quality. The perceived quality may become an issue in the future
as the watches are not made in Swiss but as expensive as the Swatch
one.
With
such a big communities and 4.3 million watches sold in 2012, we can
see that this brand is trusted. People connect with this brand
because they have a feeling of fun and excitement.
Brand
Resonance
This
is the last level of the brand equity pyramid,the one that all brands
want. Does Ice Watch has succeed to achieve brand resonance ?
As
Ice Watch is the latest crave, it has for now. People like to have
several products in order to match their clothes and do make repeat
purchases. They are loyal and have a sense of community (4.9 million
fans on Facebook)...
But
is this going to last ?
The
Ice Watch phenomenon is recent and thanks to huge amount of
advertisement, the brand resonance is high. But when the watches
won't be as new and the trend will fade, it is not sure the brand
will survive.
