6 Questions for TAG Heuer’s Marketing Director on the Brand’s New Website
Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
Valérie Servageon, Marketing Director of the LVMH Watch Division, speaks with Luxury Society about the strategy behind TAG Heuer’s new e-commerce website.
The last iteration of TAGHeuer.com was launched a few years ago. What was the aim in rebuilding the site this past year?
The main goal was to catch up with the technical digital evolution, in order to remain a leader in the sector. TAG stands for Technique d’Avant Garde and we need to be on top. It was then a necessity to be able to feature our dense editorial content, and to enhance the product experience.
It was also the opportunity to develop a mobile-first website to help us increase the experience on mobile devices, which represents more than 60% of the global traffic.
And last but not least, to optimise the e-commerce experience.
Speaking of e-commerce (currently available in the US, UK, and Australia), it seems much better integrated in the new version of the site. What are your next moves in terms of e-commerce? New countries? New features?
Yes, a better ecommerce experience was a priority. E-commerce sales are increasing and the aim is to extend the number of countries in the short term.
The website incorporates a high level of "lifestyle" content, having recently featured Muhammad Ali and the sport of rugby as the main home page image. What was the thought process behind not giving TAG Heuer timepieces the most visible spot on the home page?
We wanted to bring the visitor into a TAG Heuer experience and not only a product website. We need to share emotions. TAG Heuer is also about a #dontcrackunderpressure lifestyle leveraged through our partnerships, ambassadors and friends of the brand. We want our consumers to feel that they will wear more than a watch. But of course the product remains king and has a place of choice on every page, with detailed product pages featuring 360° players and 4K videos.
What are the key metrics you're looking most closely at in the first months of launch?
The search engine visibility, of course, because when you launch a new platform, search engines need to crawl all over again your website and if the job is well done your organic ranking should be even better. So quality traffic is key, time spent, new visitors etc.
Your smartwatch offering, the TAG Heuer Connected, which is one of the most entry-level watches in the catalog, has been getting a lot of media buzz. Is it as popular in online sales as it is in online buzz?
Yes it is, as we see that it is still one of the most visited section of the website
Undergoing a redesign website project for a brand like TAG Heuer is quite the job. What was the investment required to launch the new website?
It’s a real investment in terms of human resources, internal and external, and budget wise. It’s a long and ongoing process as the website will never stop evolving.
Managing Editor, International, Luxury Society
Tamar is the International Managing Editor of Luxury Society and marketing and new client development lead at Digital Luxury Group. Her prior roles included digital marketing and e-commerce positions at L’Oreal, Estée Lauder, and Chanel.