WATCHMAKING
4 min
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Difficult to define the desires of the young generation in terms of watchmaking. Born in digital technology, it is not always fully understood and assimilated by brands. The International Watch Marketing Days (JIMH) aim to better understand this audience.
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A vital question for the industry: how to interest young people in watchmaking? This is the theme of the International Watch Marketing Day (JIMH), organized on February 18 online. This year, the event presents a new formula, by merging the JIMH with the research days in watchmaking marketing (JRMH). It will be held in the form of conferences and interactive roundtables in digital format – Covid obliges.
Researchers and executives from watch brands will try to understand how to target young people. “New platforms have appeared. Today, TikTok and e-sport are two platforms into which brands must be brought, ”says Laetitia Vifian Benoit, president of the international watch marketing days. On TikTok, there was in particular the #RolexChallenge.
“The interest is not to set up marketing plans on TikTok, but to give the keys to go to understand and seek this public”, explains again the president of JIMH. One of the JIMH conferences is entitled “Display your luxury watch on TikTok: support in the production of video content generated by third parties.”
Dress the wrists and tell the time
In the watch industry, many experts speak of this generation which sports bare wrists. The usefulness of the watch is no longer, since everyone has their smartphone to know the time. Connected watches have also obtained market share. More Apple Watches than Swiss watches were sold worldwide in 2019.
Maria Bashutkina, from Haute École Arc, will speak for her part on the relationship between watches and young people. How do they read the time? What watches do they like and wear? This researcher at the Institute of Experiential Marketing and Communication also participates in the following round table.
What young people want
Glimmer of hope for watchmakers: a study conducted by Mazars indicates that watches are among the luxury goods that millennials buy. This generation is more interested in timepieces than any other, but progress remains largely possible for those referred to by the term Generation Z.
Other surveys focused on the expectations of new generations. The Manifest highlights video consumption. There are many platforms. YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat or even TikTok all make it possible to create links between brands, influencers and the public.
Brands are therefore arming themselves with information relays. They present their products directly to customers, through their official communication channels. They also rely on journalists, bloggers, influencers or partnerships to be visible.
Other Gen Z studies mention customer engagement. They want products suited to their tastes. More and more brands have understood this and are offering customizations – to varying degrees. As for the limited editions, they allow for example to justify collaborations. At the same time, limiting supply creates demand.
This desire to have real contact with brands is reflected even more in the study conducted by IBM and the National Retail Federation. A paragraph describes the phenomenon. Gen Z grew up connected. “They expect brands to be ready to interact with them 24/7 on their platforms and devices of choice. They want to be heard and valued as individuals. (…) For Generation Z the purpose is simple: if a product, service or experience is not up to expectations, it will trade and exert its influence elsewhere. ”
Slip into the mainstream
Several experts in the watchmaking world insist on the need to create entry doors. The second-hand market, which has been growing sharply for years, is one of the avenues regularly cited. Consumers are showing themselves ready to acquire a first second-hand luxury watch.
The arrival of serious players such as Watchbox, Watchfinders or Bucherer facilitates relationships. Customers thus have the guarantee of an authentic watch, whereas purchases from private individuals require a certain relationship of trust.
Watches remain a luxury product. The CEOs of watch brands realize that their creations are a matter of emotion, and not of the need to have the time on their wrist. The essence of Haute Horlogerie remains to make you dream. In addition to this, it must also respond to the concerns of new generations, much more involved in social and environmental issues than their predecessors might have let appear.
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