“How did it get so late so soon?” As 2017 races towards the finish line, we’ve stopped the clocks to reminisce over the luxury watch and jewelry brands that starred in the most innovative and influential digital campaigns of the year.
The Most Notable Watch and Jewelry Digital Campaigns of 2017
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
“How did it get so late so soon?” As 2017 races towards the finish line, we’ve stopped the clocks to reminisce over the luxury watch and jewelry brands that starred in the most innovative and influential digital campaigns of the year.
According to an Econsultancy report from 2016, 73 per cent agree that they’re more likely to be loyal to a brand with a strong personality in its content. A digital campaign is therefore a golden opportunity for brands to make a powerful impact on their consumers through the content they choose to share.
In today’s digital age, brands are handed engagement tools and platforms on a silver platter which they can use to produce relevant, engaging and entertaining campaigns. By ensuring that they are mobile friendly, that they involve influencers to garner more attention and that they are unique in terms of storytelling elements, brands have the power to create digital campaigns that could propel them to new heights.
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In the recent years, we’ve seen the likes of IWC’s 2016 digital Skywriter campaign and Tiffany’s 2010 engagement ring finder app which both are remembered for their unique and innovative digital campaign initiatives. But luxury brands have certainly not run out of ideas yet.
1.TAG Heuer
Following a master stroke from its Premier League Pressure Test campaign of 2016, TAG Heuer re-launched the event in February of this year. Being the official representative of the Premier League, TAG Heuer’s campaign played upon its famous tag line “Don’t Crack Under Pressure” by challenging fans on their football knowledge via a questionnaire for a chance to win tickets to a game. The campaign’s success comes down to the ways in which the brand helped the fans engage with the Premier League universe through various digital and live activities.
The brand made the most of the digital tools at their disposal by posting the link through different social media channels, including Facebook Live, with the aim to motivate fans to share it with their friends. Premier League’s Marcel Desailly and Robert Pirès both played a major role in helping the campaign go viral.
Image credit: The TAG Heuer Premier League Pressure Test
2. Cartier
For Valentine’s Day this year, Cartier jumped at the chance to create a unique, digital campaign through a WeChat online store. The French Maison made 150 pink gold bracelets – which were specifically designed for the campaign – available through the store. The outstanding feature of the campaign lay in the method of distribution deployed: the first 88 pieces purchased were specially delivered by smartly dressed bellboys straight to the consumer’s doorstep.
Today, 92 per cent of luxury brands operate an official account on WeChat, proving that the platform has been adopted en masse in China, as reported by Pablo Mauron, Digital Luxury Group’s Managing Director in China.
Cartier’s use of WeChat for the Valentine’s Day campaign was a success and the bracelets were sold out within one week.
Image credit: Cartier’s Valentine’s Day Campaign on WeChat.
3. Swarovski
In light of Mother’s Day this year, Swarovski made use of WeChat to launch its digital campaign that celebrates the eternal beauty of mothers. It also took the opportunity to introduce a mini program to its WeChat account, offering users the convenience of staying within the WeChat application while purchasing items from Swarovski’s Mother’s Day selection. It is one of the first luxury watch and jewellery brands to implement this.
Users were also able to share the campaign with their friends through the mini program like one would share a contact or pin a chat. The aim for this was to make the whole experience as easy and enjoyable for consumers as possible.
Image credit: Luxury Society snapshot of Swarovski’s Mother’s Day Campaign on WeChat’s Mini Program
4. Montblanc
For the China launch of Montblanc’s first full-fledged smartwatch, the Summit, the brand collaborated with local digital agency, DLG China, to create an integrated digital campaign on the nation’s most popular social media platform, WeChat. Besides introducing a virtual reality experience that allowed consumers to explore the different functions of the watch, a series of artfully shot images of the watch were also released in tandem on WeChat.
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Built on the concept of creating a campaign targeting millennials, with the help of millennials, a select number of Instagram influencers known for their Urbex photography skills were commissioned to produce a series of wrist shots for circulation on social media. These influencers are well known in the millennial community, with their pictures often reposted on popular Instagram accounts including Hypebeast and 24k.mag.
Image credit: Montblanc Summit WeChat campaign
Cover image credit: Swarovski with Karlie Kloss 2017 Mother’s Day Campaign
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Writer, Luxury Society
Before joining the editorial team at Luxury Society, Camille worked with a South African magazine, The Month, as well as a Swiss digital publication, Luxuria Lifestyle. She then went on to join the team at a leading business publication in Geneva, Bilan Magazine.