by Kyle Stults on November 21, 2009
In Quest to Rebuild a Brand New TechnoMarine CEO gives first online interview
If you did not know, after first being a “trendy” brand for a few years watch brand TechnoMarine lost its way and stopped being cool. ”Trends” come and they go, as they say! However – seeing potential in the brand, new and forward thinking TechnoMarine Chairman (since 2006) Christian Viros (former Tag Heuer CEO) cleaned house and brought in industry visionary Vincent Perriard (and his demonstrable track record) as CEO to shake things up a bit. Steven Cohen (Movado Group Canada / Ebel) was also brought in to help steer the ship into new and uncharted waters.
So what a nice surprise it was to see this morning an excellent interview of TechnoMarine CEO Vincent Perriard by Lex who runs Oceanic Time dive watch blog. Lex asks some great questions, and receives some great answers. In fact this is quite an OUTSTANDING and probing interview – very well done Lex!
Here are a couple initial thoughts I had after reading it:
First, in addition to wondering who initiated this interview, I think that the choice of “venue” (ie a dive watch blog) is perhaps quite revealing as to the future direction and positioning of TechnoMarine. My thought here is further reinforced by some of the discussion in the interview. Is TechnoMarine going to define the dive watch market in ways never before seen? Mr. Perriard will admin nothing, but I think that signs are pointing to yes.
Second, I would like to share here one excerpt from the interview which really caught my attention:
Lex As you know the internet has become a powerful marketing tool for modern watch companies, with sophisticated and expensive websites and Facebook accounts. What will TechnoMarine be doing to market themselves in Cyberspace?
Vincent We are going to invest more than 3/4s of our marketing money in electronic platforms and channels of communication. The watch industry keeps thinking it understands this media… That’s not true. A few brands have understood it. We (my new team and I), we are part of these few brands and we will maximize our efforts, I can guarantee this.
Why did this pique my interest? Because Vincent Perriard is 100% CORRECT in his analysis here, and it bodes well for the success of the brand re-launch – which is of course highly contingent upon a successful marketing & PR campaign. As Perriard notes, the watch industry keeps on thinking it does understand online media – when in fact 90% of all brands have NO CLUE as to what they are doing online (witness, for one recent example, Tag Heuer’s recent online accessory boutique in which they offer 8gb flash memory cards for a ludicrous price of $360). While I was not overly impressed with Concord’s use of online and social media under Vincent Perriard’s guidance, they proved particularly adept at building buzz for the C1 QuantumGravity, and the brand did demonstrate a deeper understanding of what matters “online” than the other 90% of brands out there. So I am quite surprised, and impressed, and excited to hear that 75% of TechnoMarine’s marketing resources will be dedicated towards “electronic platforms and channels of communication.” This will only mean good things for the brand relative to spending its marketing/PR budget elsewhere (ie static print ads).
Like it or not, online media is the future, and those who embrace this will prosper over the long run. But more on this subject later!
Click here to read the full interview of TechnoMarine CEO Vincent Perriard by dive watch enthusiast Lex at Oceanic Time. I highly recommend it! Enjoy!
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