Do advertisements work? A simple question, but rather a wonderful one for certain executives – because almost nobody knows the answer. There are exceptions of course. Here in the UK a pre-Christmas advertising campaign run by the skincare company Dove featured six ladies posing in pure white scanty underwear. Sales within weeks shot up by over 700%, and industry awards followed. What was the reason for such success, you may ask? It was because the models were out-of-shape, ordinary housewives, each one slightly different, and looking utterly trustworthy. Not a stick-thin pouting supermodel among them.
This has set me thinking about advertisements of wristwatches in the UK in recent months, and the different approaches to the copywriting that accompanies images (generally single). Some makers, or at least their advertising agencies, go for lots of words. Breitling (‘Instruments for Professionals’) is a very prominent advertiser – double pages in colour in the Financial Times, for example. Here is the copy beside an image of their bestselling Chronomat Evolution: ‘Performance. Prestige. Passion for Innovation… A beautiful plane is a plane that flies well. Here at Breitling, we share the same philosophy. It is expressed through a single-minded commitment to building ultra-efficient wrist instruments for the most demanding professionals. Our chronographs meet the highest criteria of sturdiness and functionality, and we submit all our movements to the merciless tests of the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute. One simply does not become an aviation supplier by chance.’ Forward wrist bookings obviously advised!
This is Montblanc writing about its TimeWalker Chronograph: ‘Self-winding mechanical Montblanc movement 4810-502. 43mm case. Scratch-resistant bombée sapphire crystal with antireflex coating. Pure stainless steel No.1.4441. Swiss Made by Montblanc. IS THAT YOU?’ After all that I am not sure about ME!
Seiko goes on about me as well. These lines go with its Sportura Kinetic Chronograph: ‘It’s not your clothes. It’s not your mobile. It’s not your DVDs. It’s your watch that says most about who you are.’ Well, I wear a different watch each day, but then I am a Libra! Fellow Japanese brand Citizen is on my trail too. About its Eco-Drive Calibre 8700, the advertisement claims: ‘It’s unstoppable. Just like the people who wear it.’ TAG Heuer has been chasing me up as well. To go with ‘Brad Pitt and his Carrera Tachymetre Automatic Chronograph’ is the line ‘What are you made of?’ I think I know actually – much the same stuff as Brad Pitt, but without the looks!
Some makers try to entice readers into their showrooms with single lines of seduction about particular models: ‘Time to celebrate’ (Raymond Weil’s Parsifal); ‘Piaget, the secret garden’ (it’s Altiplano); ‘ Bound by time’ (Harnais by Hermès); ‘A look that spells adventure’ (Chopard’s L.U.C. Pro One); ‘Io, comandante del tempo’ (Panerai’s Radiomir 45mm); ‘Think different shapes. Think different materials’ (Rado’s Integral Chronograph); ‘Elegance is an attitude’ (Longines DolceVita – with a photograph of Audrey Hepburn, about whom I definitely have a pre-viously formed attitude anyway).
After the Swatch Group acquired the Breguet brand a search commenced for written words about it by famous writers or personalities. The man himself died in 1823, so there was plenty of research and reading to do. Rather a nice job actually. Over the last year or two, the results have been appearing, over suitable landscape photographs. The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles first appeared in 1969, later made into a highly successful film (which advertisement readers generally know). The following quote from the book was featured in the Financial Times in December 2004: ‘He takes out his watch, a Breguet… an instrument from the bench of the greatest of watchmakers.’ This is original and effective advertising, even though I am not able to guess sales patterns during such campaigns.
And there were watch manufacturers that opted for the cool approach in the UK, during the months before Christmas 2004. Just beautifully shot images and a model name, mostly along with basic contact details. These included Bulgari (the model Ergon), Cartier (Santos 100), Chanel (Camélia), Chanel (again, J12 Diamonds, and this started off as a diving watch!), Emporio Armani (simply Orologi, and very successful the brand is here), F.P. Journe (Octa Zodiaque), Gerald Genta (Octo Tourbillon), Harry Winston (Rare Timepieces), and Parmigiani Fleurier (Tourbillon 30 Seconds).
Perhaps the obvious way to approach all these blandishments, finely presented on the printed page as they are, is to take note of Patek Philippe’s constant advertorial advice…’You never actually own a …’ We all know the rest of this brilliant copy line.