The new partnership is indicated by an advertising offensive that Swatch has launched in recent days in various countries in print media, on social media and on its own website. In addition to Swatch, the ad also mentions Blancpain, as well as the five oceans and the date of next Saturday, September 9, 2023.
There is still no official word on the possible watch launch. In response to an inquiry from AWP, the Swatch Group's media office said on Monday: "Wait and see".
According to an article published by the Handelszeitung on Monday, however, the new partnership between Swatch and Blancpain is a done deal next Saturday. Five Swatch versions named after the world's oceans are to be launched in Blancpain dress. Blancpain is known for its diving watches.
With the new partnership, Swatch probably wants to build on the success of the "Moonswatch" launched in March 2022. The Swatch watch in the design of the Omega cult watch "Moonwatch", which is available in eleven different color combinations at 250 francs a piece, has been in great demand since its launch. The original costs 6000 francs and more.
The range of the "Moonswatch" is limited and the watch models are only available in selected retail outlets. Long queues sometimes formed in front of these Swatch boutiques. In 2022, Swatch said it sold over one million "Moonswatch" watches. (SDA)
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The year 2023 marks the next chapter in the Swatch Art Journey: from mid-March to May, five capsule collections featuring motifs from art history will be released. Swatch will let ten masterpieces shine on the wrist with the collections, some of which the watch brand is not yet revealing.
The starting signal was given in Lisbon, where Alain Villard, CEO of Swatch, and Carlo Giordanetti, CEO of Swatch Art Peace Hotel presented four of the five new collections in the presence of representatives of the museums MoMA, Magritte Foundation, Uffizi Galleries and Louvre Abu Dhabi:
- Swatch x Moma is dedicated to Pop Art and also celebrates the 100th anniversary of Roy Lichtenstein's birth.
- Swatch x Magritte is a tribute to the surrealist on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of his birth.
- Swatch x Le Galerie degli Uffizi celebrates nature and femininity through the point of view and art of the great Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli.
- Swatch x Louvre Abu Dhabi combines the energy of the Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai and a majestic astrolabe.
Swatch hinted that the next stage of the Swatch Art Journey should please street art fans. Swatch and art - the partnership is not new. There have been Art Special watches on and off since 1985. Swatch wants to democratize the art world, it said in a statement. To that end, the brand has teamed up with world-renowned museums to recreate some of their most legendary works of art as part of the Museum Journey series.
The models will be launched from March 16.
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Things have been quieter around Swatch in recent years, but since the launch of several Moonswatch models at the end of March, the brand has been the talk of the town again. The long lines in front of Swatch stores are testimony to this and have not gotten any shorter in the last three months.
"The daily growing demand in the markets currently exceeds by far the available products," Swatch announced on Thursday at the same time as the half-year results. The Moonswatch was therefore already sold out again shortly after the last delivery. The respective colors of the watch stand for different planets and other celestial bodies such as the sun, moon and Pluto.
Clever marketing strategy
The fact that the hype surrounding the Moonswatch is so great has to do with a clever marketing strategy. The Moonswatch, which was the result of a collaboration between the two Swatch and Omega brands belonging to the group, is on sale in just 110 Swatch Group stores for 250 francs a piece. "If you want to buy one, you have to come to us," Group CEO Nick Hayek had recently told the Handelszeitung said.
By allowing customers to buy the watch only in select stores, Swatch says availability is even more exclusive than with the group's own luxury brands Breguet, Blancpain or Glashütte Original. And although the eleven different-colored watches have been heavily touted on social media, Swatch does not plan to sell the Moonswatch online in the future. However, sales are to be expanded by 25 stores in July and August.
Since the beginning of last week, eleven colored Fiat 500s have also been on a road trip across Europe, selling the watches along the way. Here, too, however, Swatch is deliberately creating suspense: exactly where the journey will take them remains a secret.
Growth despite China lockdown
Swatch is also keeping to itself how much the Moonswatch contributed to Group sales in the first half of the year. This rose by a total of 7.4 percent to 3.61 billion Swiss francs. This was despite the fact that in China, where Swatch normally generates around 40 percent of its sales, demand for watches and jewelry collapsed completely in April and May due to the Corona lockdown.
The closures in China cost Swatch a total of 400 million francs in sales, it said. On the other hand, the regions of Europe, the Americas and the Middle East recorded double-digit sales growth, while the Ukraine war impacted Group sales by less than one percent.
Operating profit EBIT even climbed by a quarter to 503 million Swiss francs in the first six months of the year. The corresponding margin was 13.9 percent, compared to 11.9 percent in the previous year. Below the line, profit rose to 320 million Swiss francs, compared with 270 million previously.
Confident for the year as a whole
Despite geopolitical tensions and the slump in demand in the Chinese market, which is important for the watch industry, Swatch is confident for the year as a whole. The "daily increasing demand" for the Moonswatch is likely to contribute to this.
The Group continues to expect double-digit sales growth in local currencies for the current year. In the second half, Swatch sees "extremely positive" growth prospects for all price segments. Regionally, the strongest growth is expected in the Americas, Asia and mainland China, it said. (SDA/swi)
Now you can also pay via wristwatch in the blink of an eye with PostFinance Digital Banking by connecting your PostFinance Mastercard with SwatchPAY!
The moving image fits in with the existing campaign for digital banking and succinctly sums up the advantages of the new payment method. With SwatchPAY! you can enjoy the summer in your swimming trunks - cash and card simply stay at home. And you don't have to rummage in all sorts of pockets for it when you're in a hurry.
In order to generate the desired impact, Wunderman Thompson used retargeting as a campaigning tool. After users were able to convince themselves of the advantages of the new payment method online, via social media video ads, display ads and social media content, they can find more in-depth information on the PostFinance website as well as a tutorial that explains step-by-step how to connect and activate SwatchPAY! with the PostFinance Mastercard.
Remote realized
The campaign was conceived in collision sessions via Skype and Microsoft Teams. Due to the current situation, filming was as contactless as possible, with minimal crew in the studio. The director, client and agency joined in from their respective home offices.
Responsible at PostFinanceMarco Serratore, Samira Boujamil, Rémy Spicher, Philipp Gasser, Aline Werren. Responsible at Wunderman Thompson: Swen Morath (Chief Creative Officer); Annette Häcki (Creative Direction); Michael Gallmann (Art Direction); Julia Staub (Text/Concept); Romaine Brunner (Consulting). Film production: Bubbles Film, Antonin Pevny (Director), Frank Hasselbach (Producer).
"Blick has been close to the people since it was founded. With the watch Swatch X view everyone can now wear a piece of Swiss newspaper history on their wrist," says Christian Dorer, editor-in-chief of the View-Group, according to a statement. Since Monday, the clock has been on for a week Swatch.ch/view available. With the online configurator, an individual design background for the entire watch can be selected from around 80 Blick headlines and symbols from the last 60 years. Each watch is therefore unique and is produced using Swatch's globally unique digital printing technology. The "Swatch X Blick" watch is one of many anniversary campaigns that have been running since the beginning of the year.
However, Apple saw this as an attack on the "Think different" advertising campaign that the U.S. company had launched and took action against it (Werbewoche.ch reported). The Swiss Federal Administrative Court now said Apple's trademark was not sufficiently well-known in Switzerland to allow the U.S. company to revoke it. "Thus, the appeal is to be dismissed," it said on Tuesday. (SDA)
As reported by the NZZ and other media last week, the Swiss watchmaker has filed for legal proceedings in the US. The bone of contention: Samsung's app store offers virtual watch faces for download for Samsung smartwatches that resemble watches from the Swatch Group.
The dials of smartwatches can be changed at will, giving the watch a certain look. The fact that virtual dials are reminiscent of well-known watch brands is not an isolated case - the brands Blancpain, Breguet, Glashütte, Hamilton, Jaquet Droz, Longines, Mido, Omega, Swatch and Tissot from the Swatch Group alone are said to be affected.
The Swatch Group is now demanding compensation. Although the designs are not created and provided by Samsung itself, but by third-party suppliers, the South Korean electronics giant does provide the platform and software.
The complaint does not come out of the blue. The Swatch Group had already informed Samsung twice around the turn of the year about objectionable watch face designs. Samsung then removed them from the store, but the Koreans did not respond to the request to automatically check the offers in the future and remove them in case of violations.
Example Tissot: The original (left) and the virtual replica (right).
A company spokeswoman confirmed this to Handelszeitung: "The space that Harrods is offering us does not meet our needs." The parties have therefore agreed to renegotiate at a later date. The Swatch spokesperson only vaguely describes when this will be: "As soon as better opportunities arise."
The watch department at Harrods is one of the most important outlets for luxury Swiss watches in London. With the weakness of the pound in the wake of the Brexit decision, the Fine Watch Room - like all watch retailers in London - has experienced a veritable boom. The sales area is currently being massively enlarged and extended over two floors. The major watch brands are therefore competing for the best space. Among the winners of the scramble are three brands from Swatch's arch-rival Richemont.
In its current edition, Switzerland at the Weekend is certain: Swatch deliberately set itself up for a legal confrontation with Apple by using the slogan "Tick different". Launched in 1997, the slogan "Think different" is one of the most legendary and well-known claims in advertising history, and in the 1990s it heralded and accompanied Apple's rise from niche player to the world's most valuable brand.
Swatch has been using "tick different" for two years. At the time, Nick Hayek denied to the Handelszeitung an Apple context. Rather, it was a reference to the company's own past: "Always different, always new" was a claim made by the Swiss watchmaker in the eighties. The entry of "Tick different" in the trademark register made the provocation towards Cupertino perfect.
Involuntary brand ambassadors
The Zurich law firm Lenz & Staehelin, which prosecutes trademark infringements for Apple in Switzerland, then filed an objection with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property - and was rebuffed. As a result, Apple is now taking the case to the Federal Administrative Court.
The judges would now become involuntary brand ambassadors if they negotiate the meaning of the slogan, finds Switzerland at the weekend. Because the case is not as clear-cut as it seems from Apple's point of view. The company must prove that the claim "Think different" has a brand awareness of over 50 percent in Switzerland. To do so, Apple would have to disclose the sales figures of the iMac, for example, because the slogan has been on every package for almost ten years.
The trademark teasing has a tradition
This is not the first time that Swatch has teased its superior competitor. In the past, the name "iSwatch" was protected in (supposedly) wise foresight to forestall a possible "iWatch". As we know, Apple finally named the watch Apple Watch.
In addition, Swatch has had the phrase "One more thing" entered in the trademark register - according to these words, Steve Jobs announced a world first at product presentations instead of a triviality. Apple has not yet been able to prevail in this dispute either, because Jobs is said not to have invented the saying himself, but to have taken it from the TV detective Columbo.
The irony of history: "Think different" is also a direct derivative of a competitor's claim: At the time, Apple referred to the "Think" claim of the computer giant IBM, which was overpowering at the time. (hae)
And with Apple Pay, an international heavyweight will soon be in the mix here. In Europe, the Apple Pay payment service can currently only be used in the UK. It is soon to enter the market in France and Switzerland (Werbewoche.ch reported). Initially, customers of the credit card companies Visa and Mastercard who have a card from Bonuscard, Cornèrcard and Swiss Bankers can pay with Apple Pay, as Apple announced on its website on Tuesday. When exactly Apple Pay will launch in Switzerland, however, is still unclear. According to communications from Visa and Mastercard, it should be ready "in the summer." According to media reports, which refer to statements made by Apple's software chief at the WWDC developer conference in San Francisco, Swiss customers will still have to wait "a few months".
Contactless payment increasingly popular
With Apple Pay, a credit card must be deposited. After that, the cell phone works in the same way as for contactless payment with a credit card. The service will therefore be available at all checkouts equipped with near-field communication (NFC) radio terminals: In addition to Migros and Coop, this is also the case at Aldi, Lidl, Spar and the Valora chains K Kiosk and Avec. According to Stefan Holbein, Country Manager of Visa Europe Switzerland, Switzerland is virtually predestined for payment via smartphone. In May, 11.3 percent of all Visa transactions in this country were processed via contactless. A year ago, this figure was only half as high. Today, two-thirds of all Visa terminals in Switzerland are already equipped with NFC technology. By 2020, the standard should be available at all terminals, Holbein said in a conference call on Tuesday.
Competition for Twint
The market entry of Apple Pay is likely to be a litmus test for the Swiss payment app Twint, which will be merged with the competing product Paymit in the fall. In favor of Apple's solution is the fact that Switzerland, with a market share of a good 50 percent, is actually an iPhone country. Although the latest models have NFC on board, Apple has so far refused app developers access to the interface. The manufacturer only allows Apple Pay to communicate via NFC. Therefore, Twint and Paymit will have to resort to other technologies until further notice. With Paymit, for example, a QR code must be scanned. With Twint, payments are processed via Bluetooth at a separate terminal at the store checkout. However, the new Twint app is prepared for the event that Apple changes its policy: The solution is to be designed to be open to technology and can also integrate the wireless technology NFC.
Bulwark against Apple
Nevertheless, Twint does not have to hide from Apple Pay. The merged service is backed by UBS, Credit Suisse, Postfinance, Raiffeisen and ZKB, the five largest Swiss banks, Coop and Migros, the two largest retailers, and Swisscom, Switzerland's largest telecommunications provider. In a statement, Twint is somewhat relaxed about the new competition. The competition is welcomed, it says. This will further sensitize users to mobile payments. The statement also emphasizes that Twint can be used regardless of the smartphone's operating system. Apple Pay, on the other hand, only works with an Apple operating system. In addition to the iPhone, payment is also possible with the iPad and the Apple Watch.
New competition on the way
But Apple is not Twint's only new competitor. On Thursday, watch giant Swatch launches in Switzerland with its Bellamy payment watch. Like Apple Pay, Bellamy also uses NFC technology. Comparable to a contactless credit card, the watch simply has to be held up to the point-of-sale terminal. There is no need to open an app. Mondaine is relying on the same technology. In late summer, the watch manufacturer from Schwyz plans to launch its first collection with a payment function. In addition, it should only be a matter of time before the smartphone world market leader Samsung also comes to Switzerland with its payment offering. The market launch in Singapore is scheduled for Thursday. The service is already available in the US, South Korea, China and Spain. (SDA)
Swatch is planning five watch and jewelry stores for its 18 watch brands on 670 square meters at the 500-million resort, which is scheduled to open in mid-2017. In addition to 37 showcases with exhibits, Swatch is providing the resort with artworks from its own artist residency in Shanghai, China. The collaboration also includes the Hotel Royal Savoy Lausanne. Swatch also plans to display selected watch brands in 26 showcases in the latter. The partners did not disclose any financial details of the deal. For Swatch CEO Nick Hayek, the cooperation between tourism and the luxury goods industry is a commitment to Switzerland as a business location, as he explained at a media conference on Thursday at Bürgenstock. Switzerland, he said, must cultivate its heritage and brands, not least in view of the strong franc, and offer guests an emotional experience. Mountains and tunnels alone are no longer enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLWZ4QlFHoY
Hayek: "Lucerne at the capacity limit".
The tourist resort of Lucerne, which is popular for watch and jewelry stores and is about 30 minutes away from Bürgenstock, has reached its capacity limit, said Hayek. This is one of the reasons why the industry is interested in gaining a foothold on the Bürgenstock. The cooperation between the resort and Swatch is open. According to the partners, joint events or advertising campaigns in Swatch stores abroad are possible. It is also conceivable that guests will be able to pay for their stay at the resort with a Swatch watch on their arm, for example. Cooperation between tourism and the luxury goods industry on Bürgenstock is not new. The industries already worked hand in hand in the 1950s. The name of Swatch's competitor Gübelin, after which a house on the panoramic mountain is named, is now to disappear from the resort.
Resort with three hotels and a dozen restaurants
The car-free Bürgenstock Resort is scheduled to open in mid-2017. The tourism complex comprises 30 buildings and sports facilities. These include three hotels with almost 400 rooms and 800 beds, as well as a dozen restaurants. A wellness complex, a conference center and a shopping mall are also scheduled to open. The total investment amounts to around 500 million Swiss francs. Katara Hospitality Switzerland AG, based in Zug, is behind the resort. It is the operating company for Swiss hotels of a Qatari sovereign wealth fund. In addition to the Bürgenstock Resort, Katara Hospitality also owns the Schweizerhof in Bern and the Royal Savoy in Lausanne.
The operators are optimistic despite the current difficulties in the tourism industry. They expect 100,000 day visitors per year and 150,000 overnight stays, according to Bruno H. Schöpfer, Managing Director of Katara Hospitality Switzerland. In addition to the hotel business, the operators are counting on health tourists who can receive treatment at the resort, as well as conferences, residential guests and excursionists from the region. According to Bruno H. Schöper, work on the traffic development is on track. The concession for the construction of a funicular railroad from Kehrsiten NW to Bürgenstock has recently been granted. The construction costs for the new funicular are estimated at 15 million Swiss francs. In addition, a boat connection from Lucerne to Kehrsiten is to be created. (SDA)
This reflects the measured "emotion volume" in the USA, China and Switzerland. The emotion volume provides information on how much emotion a brand triggers in consumers overall. In Switzerland in particular, the winner is clear: Swatch with 40 out of 100 possible index points. A very good result, because car brands such as Audi and BMW trigger about the same amount. Only certain chocolate products achieve an emotion volume that is even higher, thanks to enjoyment across all the senses.
Over the past decades, Swatch has been able to build up its brand virtually undisturbed and anchor itself in the minds of consumers in this country. Swatch is the close brand from its own country, with which many Swiss grew up. In the USA and China, on the other hand, this is not the case - although the emotional volume is somewhat higher in these markets, Swatch lacks a genuine emotional competitive advantage.
Swatch CEO Nick Hayek is still laughing about the Apple Watch. Nokia did the same with the iPhone in 2007. In Switzerland, Swatch still has a clear emotional lead in terms of likeable, trustworthy reliability - internationally, the brand lacks these emotions, and the Apple Watch threatens to overtake Swatch. Study author Philipp Zutt of Zutt & Partner: "It's not better or worse products that are decisive for success, but the customer experience around a product. And here the Apple Watch has an advantage, because Apple is the world champion in creating unique customer experiences."
For the entire study, an expert interview with Karin Frick, Head of Research and Member of the Executive Board of the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI), and a column with a video comparison, go to Globalemotionsforum.com