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Digital Marketing

Report

Social Media Branding in the Luxury Watch Industry

Professor Andreina Mandelli

Digital Marketing – Fall Semester 2011/2012

Social Media Watchdogs: Lara Besseghini Anna Giovanetti Serena Grassini

Francesca Maino Armanda Nessi Juliane Poschke

Marco Vendraminetto

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Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. Methodology

III. Rolex

Analysis

IV. Omega

Analysis

V. Patek Phillipe

Analysis

VI. Conclusion

VII. Appendix

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I. Introduction

The boost of social media and the changes in post-modern markets have affected the way brands were used to be conceived and understood.

A brand is no longer only a source of differentiation and competitive advantage but something that goes far beyond that: relationship, experience and co-creation of value have become the main source of brand identity. Nowadays the brand has a role of social connector since it is expected to create a linking value among different media platforms in order to build online communities and be an active part of them.

That is why a crucial aspect for a brand’s success is to be present in social media platforms and have people talking and discussing on it. It is important to highlight that both positive and negative discussions are welcome: why? Because in these way companies can recognize their strengths and manage negative comments in order to direct the followers on the right track.

The current report is the output produced by a group of seven students from Master in Marketing and in Corporate Communication of Università della Svizzera italiana – USI.

The final goal is the analysis of three Swiss premium brands belonging to the watch industry - Rolex, Omega and Patek Philippe - in order to understand their social media strategy and to foster a discussion based on the questions presented below.

Can brands with more than a hundred years of tradition cope with new generation platforms, without harming their reputation of Swiss luxury icons and being perceived as mass product?

Will they succeed in this challenge?

First, a brief insight about the methodology used to address the work is introduced to the Reader. As a second point comes the social media analysis with the top ranked brand in the Interbrand web chart: Rolex. The other two brands, Omega and Patek Philippe, are straight after the previous brand. Finally, a rep up section is presented with the main aim of creating a discussion together with the Reader on the possible future scenarios that the brands may face.

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+ II. Methodology

The report is organized along seven different variables, in order to monitor and understand social media coverage by the three brands:

1. Social presence

2. Customer engagement management

3. Sentiment/advocacy management

4. Support

5. Innovation

6. Communication leadership

7. Linked Value

In order to obtain a clear and detailed insight for each of the above variables, four main social media typologies have been used: social networks (Facebook, Linkedin, Google+, Digg), microblog (Twitter), video and photo sharing (Youtube and Photobucket), forum and blogs. Also, other tools used within the analysis are Stumbleupon (search engine) and unofficial pages, depending on their relevance for some variables. The application of two main social media tools, SocialMention and Alexa, has served as a way to give practical evidence to the final work.

The ultimate section of the analysis for each brand has been dedicated to evaluation on a scale from 1 to 10 of each brand on the seven variables taken into consideration. This has been done in order to allow a comparison among the three brands in terms of social media strategy.

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Customer Engagement Management

How many users the brand is able to contact through social media? Does the brand have a visible strategy for stimulating participation and customer engagement?

In the Rolexforums.com posts are more than 2’300’000 with about 900 members creating discussions, relationships and sharing friendship. The posts are mostly discussions around the advertisement of new models, the share of products’ pictures, discussions about the different models of watches, questions about Rolex watches and so on.

The Rolex awards initiative with its related blog is dedicated to support laureates whose innovative work contributes to the betterment of mankind. The comments on the relative blogs are usually very few and mainly associated to the project itself rather to the brand.

Most of the unofficial Facebook pages are promoting new models of watches, events created by the Company or promoted by it, picture of users with their Rolex and advertising offers. Likes and members are about 300’000 and discussions are less than 2% of the members (Like 274’673 / talk 2’819). The users are quite active in posting pictures and comment them, but less active in commenting advertising offers.

Social Presence

Is the brand present in all platforms that are relevant for their business and relationship strategy?

Being a brand, which includes different areas/sectors such as watches, sport, culture and philanthropy, Rolex is present in most relevant platforms and channels on the web.

Officially Rolex has one Forum (but not affiliated to Rolex.USA) and one Blog (Rolex Awards Blog), but it is also to be considered that the web is full of unofficial pages where the brand is present and discussed.

According to the Facebook search page, there exist about 10 unofficial pages that grant the increase in brand awareness through the spread of information. Further, Rolex is also highly present on Twitter but mainly with commercial tweets.

And as far as Linkedin is concerned, the brand is mentioned, particularly referring to the events and the design strategy, but just few posts are present and there are nearly zero comments. Digg is also mentioning the brand, but comments are related to offers of fakes and copies of Rolex watches.

In Youtube.com the videos obtained by typing “Rolex” are more than 60’000, while the search for “Rolex watches” gives a result of 7’000 videos with quite a lot of visualizations and comments.

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Rolex SA is a Swiss manufacturer of watches known for its luxury and high quality. These watches are popularly regarded as status symbols. Rolex was at the 71st place on 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands. It produces about 2’000 watches per day, with revenues of around US$ 3 billion.

The brand has participated in the quartz watches development and it was one of the first brands to create waterproof watches. It was not just a luxury watch but also an item for active people with high tech certified chronometers.

The company is now starting to introduce ceramic bezels across the range of professional sports watches.

This wonderful luxury brand boasts famous owners like Roger Federer, Steve McQueen and Che Guevara and it had in its history notable endorsement for their advertising.

III. Introduction to the Brand Rolex

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Concerning Twitter, as said before it has mainly commercial tweet with offers, discounts and advertising posts. It is also possible to find some discussions about current events like rubbery of Rolex, rich people victim of theft and discussion about the right to “wear” such a huge amount of money.

In YouTube, the majority of videos are previewing the new models, showing the characteristics of the products, explaining how they are assembled and how it is possible to recognize a fake from an original item.

Sentiment/Advocacy Management

What percentage of users is positive or enthusiastic about the brand compared to the percentage of users who are negative about the brand? Does the brand have a visible strategy stimulating participation and customer engagement? Do they manage negative conversations?

Most of the people who are posting or commenting in forums, blogs and platforms, express positive perceptions about the brand. There are consumers posting comments or likes on Rolex’ pages which are neutral, but also other people, who stand for the majority, that are expressing personal feelings associated to the brand.

Very positive feelings such as excitement and enthusiasm come out in those posts and pictures regarding the purchase of a Rolex. This might be translated by saying that people are passionate and experience the brand as part of their life: to them such a luxury object can heighten their status. In this way, they are sharing positivity about the brand and, as a consequence, they promote positive word of mouth and brand awareness.

Usually people interested in following the brand are going on the web voluntarily and are participating in a constructive way giving their advice and trying to struggle with negative comments to defend their brand. Some negative comments have also been found; in those cases people express negative opinions about the watches or even the brand itself. As an example, in YouTube negative comments associated to the video were almost the same: “I’ll never wear a watch like that, too many diamonds, too tacky, too expensive”. Anyway it emerges that in general people like the brand and some are very proud of it.

Said all above, it is still not possible to distinguish a clear strategy pursued by the brand itself, which would leave Rolex to exploit these encouraging outcomes in the web.

Support

Does the company offers help through social media? Is there customer care through answers, comments or posts from the company?

No direct response is given by Rolex. The reason that may explain this is that the analyzed platforms (forums, blogs, Facebook pages) are not official and not directly created by Rolex. Therefore, the brand is not straightforwardly involved in the discussions and is not answering or offering any kind of help. Besides, on Youtube.com it does not possess an account, meaning that it does not have any chance to post videos or comments.

It is correct to say that Rolex does not provide any kind of customer service through the use of social media in general.

Innovation Does the company ask for collaboration? Are users proposing solutions or service/product improvements within a co-creation perspective?

In general, comparing all the platforms analyzed, the innovation is absent. This can be explained by the fact that, as already mentioned, the company is not directly present in the channels and is not dynamically interacting.

Sometimes, when posting, people propose some kind of solutions or enhancements, but still they are quite few and not relevant enough to improve upon the product.

A further reason which clarifies what has been already said, is the fact that the long and well established Rolex tradition has contributed to convince the lovers of the brand to not desire changes in the watch itself. Users of the platforms are just expressing their ideas, feelings and opinions commenting and posting about what they already love and appreciate.

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Communication Leadership

Does the company directly manage proprietary brand communities? Does it actively support independent brand communities? Howa would you evaluate the credibility and authority of brand communication/participation.

The company is not directly managing proprietary brand communities nor in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube neither on forums and blogs. Although the Rolex Awards Blog is a proprietary brand community, Rolex does not take care of the content and comments that are published and discussed on it, since it is stated that it declares they are sourced from bloggers and not from the company itself. It could only been found a link which from the main Rolex website leads to the blog, but anything else.

Linked Value

Has the brand become a social connector? What is the percentage of users who connect/discuss with their peers using brand-related social media spaces?

In the majority of posts on Facebook and on Twitter, there is not a real conversation, rather only quick sentences or opinions about the product and the brand or links to commercial offers. Single conversations can also be found.

In terms of forums, there is a quite high level of interaction between the users/members: by registering, posting and commenting in a forum dedicated to the brand, they show their likelihood to take part into a discussion about the brand and the product.

Speaking about the Rolex Award blog, it is not a real communicating platform because there are not big conversations. Projects are posted on the blog, but as said before there is not a real discussion.

Of course, the fact that Rolex is considered as a long-tradition brand facilitates the creation of a passionate community and with the digital era, a social connector. The aspect to be highlighted though and which Rolex should consider as a potential suggestion, should be that of the scarce presence of the Rolex company itself in feeding these conversations or replying and taking care of what is going on in the social media about its brand. It could definitively be a new way to stay closer to its customers, exploiting their already active presence on the web and their potential to boost Rolex brand awareness and trust. Overall Evaluation for the Brand Rolex with Respect to the 7 Variables

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Social Networks

8 8 2 2 2 3 5

Microblog 8 6 2 2 2 2 4 Video & Photo sharing

7 6 2 2 2 2 4

Forum & Blogs 8 7 5 2 2 4 6

Total average 7.75 6.75 2.75 2 2 2.75 4.75

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Social Presence

Is the brand present in all platforms that are relevant for their business and relationship strategy?

According to HowSociable, the brand is present in the main current digital platforms: it has been noticed that Omega recently entered also Linkedin and Google+, with a limited percentage of followers still. Digg (explain what it is) appears to be as the most widely used in terms of comments and discussions, but this can be explained through the fact that it is connected to forums and blogs. Photobucket, not shown in this table, is also used especially for advertising purposes.

In terms of forum and blogs, there are three main platforms of discussion:

omegaforums.net omegablogger.com thewatchforum.co.uk

There are also many unofficial pages, both for forums and for social networking and video/photo sharing.

Probably the aim of being present on the web for Omega is related mainly to commercial and advertising purposes: from this point of view, it is present in relevant platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. On the other hand, it really depends on the target: knowing that this brand is more related to a business and mature target, increasing its presence on Linkedin should be a priority at this stage.

Customer Engagement Management

How many users the brand is able to contact through social media? Does the brand has a visible strategy for stimulating participation and customer engagement?

The Facebook page enlists 112’866 likes and among these the number of users that participate in the discussion and talk about the brand are 2’265. The strategy pursued by Omega in the platform is pretty visible: the company aims to engage customers by mainly advertising products and providing information about new boutiques and endorsers. Linkedin shows a number of 644 members, mainly belonging to the target of medium-high income class. Digg, a search engine, produces an output of 22’171 discussions and a profile with 11 members only, suggesting that it may be a fake one. These two last social networks do not present any kind of visible strategy, since discussions are created and managed by the users. No Google+ resources can be enlisted in the analysis. As far as Twitter is concerned, discussions are mainly fostered by followers – 2’374 – while the average number if Tweets is 137.

In the video sharing platform, the final results for the search “Omega Watches” are 5’780 and two official pages – Omega Channel and Omega Official Timekeeper Channel – are founded. In terms of numbers, the first channel has been accessed by 18’160 viewers and 21 videos have been uploaded, but only 344 users actually subscribed. This page is about the history of the brand, updates of activities (endorsement, events) and commercial shoots. The other channel, Omega Official Timekeeper, counts 55’050 visualizations and 425’946 uploads; Timekeeper channel has 52 video and 431 subscribers. This channel is more broad since is not only about Omega, but it includes evaluations on several brands belonging to the industry.

Photobucket mainly presents unofficial commercial contents through the sharing of 2’157 photos and 30 videos.

In the Omega Forum Statistics’ there are 250 Discussions, 2’348 Messages and 251 members. This is the first forum for the Omega community, thus it is quite easy to find a low level of customer engagement and an intense activity. Every day about 40 members are online during the day and on average 5 discussion are followed per day.

IV. Introduction to the Brand Omega As stated in the official website, Omega is defined by its pioneering spirit. The brand has participated actively in some of the most challenging, fascinating adventures in human history: the conquest of space, world-class sports timekeeping, including 24 Olympic Games; an airplane designed to fly around the Earth powered only by the sun.

Pioneering and sporting spirit, innovativeness and high precision are the capstone of this brand since 1848. Ambassadors and endorsers such as Nicole Kidman, George Clooney and James Bond/Daniel Craig contributed to the enormous success of this Swiss brand.

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The Omega Blogger is a web site analyzed in one of the most important tools of web information, that is Alexa. Traffic rank for this blog is 1’505’007 clicks, users spend about 55 seconds per visit to the site and 25 seconds per page view. Visitors surf on average 2.2 pages each day and the fraction of visits referred by search engines is roughly 8%.

The Watch Forum has a very large number of users and a good percentage of them discusses about Omega watches. In the forum statistics' it can be seen that there are 696’103 total posts and 21’837 total members. Every day there are 170 active users/hour, among which the majority are guests and not registered members, meaning that anyone who is interested in the luxury segment of watches can undertake a discussion and share opinions and thoughts with other Omega lovers

Sentiment/Advocacy management

What percentage of users is positive or enthusiastic about the brand compared to the percentage of users who are negative about the brand? Does the brand have a visible strategy stimulating participation and customer engagement? Do they manage negative conversations?

Generally speaking it can be said that Facebook shows many positive comments since many users are advocates of the brand. There is a lot of enthusiasm especially about endorsers and advertising campaigns that are focused on emotional issues (e.g. Nicole Kidman & Brad Pitt commercials, see link on the Appendix). In Linkedin and Digg, comments and discussions are more neutral, since it is more a matter of selling and advertising. There are some negative comments, the majority of which are about replica and fake. In Twitter comments are mainly neutral and related to commercial purposes, too. In YouTube, videos in both unofficial and official pages show many enthusiastic comments (more in unofficial pages), especially thanks to endorsers' videos. In official pages there are less comments but all positive. It has not been possible to check whether administrators have deleted negative comments or not.

The official Omega forum has the possibility to be shared on the most famous social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+, so it's a good start to improve the W.O.M. and support the brand community activity. Here it is better to notice the influence of the brand to spread news and try to enlarge the discussions and comments of its community.

The Omega Blogger is an unofficial blog and there is no possibility to share it on Facebook or Twitter, meaning that it is usable only by the users: there is not a good W.O.M. outside it, but inside it is possible to find a lot of links connecting the blog with other sites like it. In here, the Omega community can take part into discussions belonging to different categories, but it has been noticed that there is a narrow interesting W.O.M. The discussion about the brand show negative comments defended by other users, and the majority of the discussions contains likes and desires of the members. The brand show here a lack in the activity of support and strategy to manage the negative W.O.M., but in the same time, Omega community is able to defend the brand and share positive thinking about the new model of Omega watches.

There is not the possibility to share the Watch Forum on Facebook or Twitter, the best common social network, so its W.O.M. isn't very active; but inside it the brand has a quite good visibility, a positive activity of the Omega community that here opened discussion and spread news about Omega watches that positively affect comments by all users of the watch forum. So the strength of this brand, here, is its community, no relevant strategy and support.

Support

Does the company offer help through social media? Is there customer care through answers, comments or posts from the company?

Regarding this point, it can be argued about social media in general without differentiating between social networking, microblogs and so on. As noticed, there is not really an interaction with users and followers: Omega posts video and news about boutiques, endorsers (the brand new South African swimmer Chad Le Clos) and events (Omega Mission Hills World Cup of Golf) but rarely participates in discussions or replies to comments. There is not a real customer care; it is more an interaction among followers rather than between brand and users. Customers are bombarded with information but comments about it do not seem to be considered by the company. For YouTube as well there is no interaction with users: the brand simply provides them with a short comment below the video.

As just said, brand support is present better in the Omega's official forum, where the Brand "Omega" is shared on social networks, offered the possibility to know more information and news about Omega things by linking a lot of web sites about this brand. Through the discussion, we find also a category of discussion named "Forum suggestions and support" where users can ask changement of the forum and add value to it. In the other two forums, the brand is not relevant, so its activity and service can't be notice.

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Innovation

Does the company ask for collaboration? Are users proposing solutions or service/product improvements within a co-creation perspective? Does the company ask for collaboration? What percentage of users proposed solutions or service/product improvements within a co-creation perspective?

Again arguing for all the platforms considered: it does not seem to be co-creation and collaboration between the brand and its followers. Linked to the variable just discussed above it can be said that since there is no support and interaction, also innovation is lacking. Of course there are many unofficial pages, especially in platforms such as Digg and PhotoBucket, where the brand is under no obligation to respond or to interact with users, since it does not have an official profile. If we consider innovation in terms of keeping customers aware and updated of brand new initiatives and products, there is a lot going on this side. The problem is that it seems to be no willingness to interact with the customer and create and become a real presence in the community.

In the discussion category of the official forum said above, there is the real collaboration between the Company and its community members.

One may read about the Company asking useful advice to improve the blog and also the watches, trying to find co-producers consumers that are able to find new solutions and other innovation things for the official blog and the watch models.

Communication Leadership

Does the company directly manage proprietary brand communities? Does it actively support independent brand communities? How would you evaluate the credibility and authority of brand communication/ participation.

The brand directly supports brand communities in Facebook and YouTube: it manages the official pages by regularly posting images, videos and news.

It has recently created an official Twitter and Linkedin page: on Twitter it daily updates its status, while on Linkedin the page is more supported by users rather than managed by the brand itself. The content of the pages can be considered as valuable and entertaining since it deals with many different issues such as iPhone application, virtual boutiques, events (e.g. Golf World Cup) and so on; on the other hand there is not an active participation to discussion.

The Brand can manage its community in its official forum by offering arguments to comment, photo gallery, information and news, but also material about where it's possible to find Omega watches, generating like an "e-bay site" inside of one discussion's category called "Watch market place". The brand creates also discussions about other watches (like Rolex) to stimulate the comparison and let also spaces to open discussions from the users.

It seems that with this strong activity and presence in the community, Omega has earn its trust and loyalty: this can be confirmed by monitoring the others unofficial forums where the real brand community support the brand and defend it as if they were Rolex themselves.

Linked Value

Has the brand become a social connector? What is the percentage of users who connect/discuss with their peers using brand-related social media spaces?

The brand has become a social connector mainly on Facebook since it uses this platform to link videos on YouTube and to promote its new “Lifetime iPad application”. However, the connection is more among users rather than between the brand and its customers. There are potential communities under the surface because there is a lot of interaction especially in platforms like Facebook and YouTube.

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The problem is that the brand is not exploiting the potential of its enthusiastic followers; rather it focuses mainly on the commercial and advertising issues. The same problem can be noticed on forums and blogs; it has been noticed that people discuss among each other and show enthusiasm and passion towards the company, but discussions remain at this level, there is no connection with the brand itself. Overall Evaluation for the Brand Omega with Respect to the 7 Variables

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Social Networks 9 8 4 3 6 7 7

Microblog 8 7 4 3 4 4 4 Video & Photo sharing

9 8 4 3 5 6 6

Forum & Blogs 9 7 4 3 6 6 7

Total average 8.75 7.5 4 3 5.25 5.75 6

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Social Presence

Is the brand present in all platforms that are relevant for their business and relationship strategy?

According to SocialMention, the brand is present on Facebook and Twitter but not on Google+. In Facebook there are two main official pages (one related to the company and the other one to the community), one about the Smartphone application and numerous unofficial pages (small groups and communities). It has also a Linkedin account where the company itself is registered but not an official forum nor an official page on YouTube. Having said that, there are multiple unofficial pages in different platforms, maybe meaning that even if the brand does not own any community for example on YouTube there is an interesting buzz around it anyway. It is also significant that the unofficial forum watchtalkforums.info/forums/patek-philippe-forum at the first sight looks like an official one since it is the first that comes up from Google when you digit “Patek Philippe forum”.

Customer Engagement Management

How many users the brand is able to contact through social media? Does the brand has a visible strategy for stimulating participation and customer engagement?

In social network platforms it can be said that the brand is mainly present on Facebook where it counts 18.525 likes and 396 talking about it on its official page “Patek Philippe Company”; on the Community page there are 10,231 likes. Besides that there are many unofficial pages that together count about 2,000 likes. The brand is not present on Google+ while on Linkedin it shows 859 followers and 139 employees actually registered on the account. There is no official page on Digg but when typing Patek Philippe it shows 1.011 results.

Considering the microblog Twitter the brand has an official page with 278 followers.

In video and photo sharing platforms there are not official pages either but on YouTube the brand has 2,950 results overall when typing the brand name. The most seen video is “Patek Philippe-birth of a legend” with 326,187 visualizations. In Photobucket again there is no official page but 2,216 photos and 10 videos uploaded by different users and websites.

As mentioned before, the most active forum is WatchTalkForum and it counts 608 threads.

V. Introduction to the Brand Patek Phillipe

Patek Philippe boasts a long tradition of over 150 years and has always based its business on values like innovation, tradition, heritage and emotion. Although the first two might appear to be in contrast, they have contributed to establish the brand as the "finest producer of timepieces in the World", because of the right balance between the two of them.

Patek Philippe has always aimed to sell its valuable productions as carriers of pleasure for sight and pride for wearing by pushing on the concept of heritage: the watches are destined to live forever together with the generations that will have the honor of owning the first ones. This concept was applied in the Generations Campaign, whose message was mainly that of possessing a watch that could live within the family and consequently be a signal of continuity through the years.

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Sentiment/Advocacy management

What percentage of users is positive or enthusiastic about the brand compared to the percentage of users who are negative about the brand? Does the brand have a visible strategy stimulating participation and customer engagement? Do they manage negative conversations?

Generally speaking comments are mainly positive and neutral. According to SocialMention, there are more neutral than positive comments but no negative ones, just few mentioning fake products and high prices.

In the WacthForum comments and posts are all positive and enthusiastic while on YouTube more people like the video Birth of a Legend (871) compared to those that dislike it (15).

Support

Does the company offer help through social media? Is there customer care through answers, comments or posts from the company?

There is not a real interaction with users since the brand just posts videos and news without involving them in the discussion. It is more an interaction among followers rather than with the company itself. This is common for all social media. In particular in Facebook, there are only informative messages posted by the brand and discussions fostered by enthusiastic followers: the last post by the company was on June the 20th and it was just about stopping pasting links on the page because the page was only for people who could really afford a Patek Philippe.

On the YouTube platform, there is a discussion going on related to the video Birth Of A Legend: people discuss about why they should buy these watches and so on. Many of them argue in favor of the brand, saying that they would be willing to pay more than 40’000 dollars in cash. They also say that their product is a matter of emotion, quality and vision.

Innovation

Does the company ask for collaboration? Are users proposing solutions or service/product improvements within a co-creation perspective? Does the company ask for collaboration? What percentage of users proposed solutions or service/product improvements within a co-creation perspective?

Having mentioned the 20th-June-post it has to be said that there is no innovation if the brand kind of discriminated among its followers. The main goal of the Facebook page is just to inform, not to interact. Same thing for the other platforms: in Twitter there is nothing posted by the company and on Linkedin there are only few information about the company itself but nothing about the brand. In the forum, users do not seem to look for innovation, since comments are more related to their experiences with the product and no queries and problems are addressed to the company.

Communication Leadership

Does the company directly manage proprietary brand communities? Does it actively support independent brand communities? How would you evaluate the credibility and authority of brand communication/ participation.

On Facebook, the official page is managed by an administrator while the community page is not really administered by anyone so people just post comments and share links. Since the company does not have any official page on YouTube there is not a real brand community even if, reading the comments of the video, there is a perception that a potential community is actually present and should be exploited. There are two official profiles on Linkedin and Twitter but there is not a real discussion on those pages.

Linked value

Has the brand become a social connector? What is the percentage of users who connect/discuss with their peers using brand-related social media spaces?

On Facebok, YouTube and the WacthForum there is a high level of interaction among users: they share experiences, comments and news related to the product. There is no interaction with the brand itself. On these pages there are no references to other social platforms, even if they are present on Twitter and Linkedin.

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Overall Evaluation for the Brand Patek Phillipe with Respect to the 7 Variables

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Social Networks

8 8 2 2 2 3 3

Microblog 6 5 - - - - - Video & Photo sharing

6 6 5 4 4 4 4

Forum & Blogs 7 7 5 4 4 4 4

Total average 6.75 6.5 4 3.2 3.2 3.7 3.7

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VI. Conclusion

Considering the long history of tradition of these brands and their mature target, it is clear that there was some reluctance at the beginning to enter social media platforms. Rolex could be the most challenged one since it is considered as the most valuable and prestigious among the three. There should be a trade off between keeping a link with its roots and at the same time moving one step further towards these new modern customers.

Omega is the most active in terms of official pages and interaction with users: the answer could be find in its sporty and fashion target that identifies with celebrities like George Clooney and Tiger Woods.

Rolex as well has many ambassadors from the sport industry but probably this is not its main focus and target; Omega on the other hand has made sport and pioneering spirit its main vision and mission.

Patek Philippe does not have a clear strategy in terms of digital marketing and it is clear from the many unofficial pages that are present on the web. There was not so much to analyze about this brand since the interaction with customers was almost absent and even in the brand community there was no support at all from the company side.

At first sight it seemed that the three Swiss brands tried to keep up with changes in the market and in their customers but they left everything halfway. They entered the most important and widely used social media platforms but then they did not exploit their communities by interacting and co-creating with users. The danger could be being perceived as arrogant and not willing to share mission and vision with their advocates. The only one really present on its official pages its Omega: Facebook page is daily updated with video and news and same for YouTube channels. On the other hand, Rolex and Patek Philippe posted a comment respectively the 8th of May and the 20th of June.

So the future of this brand really depends on how they will be able to manage their customer relationships on social media platforms, also because Smartphone applications are growing in importance and these brands, apart from Omega, are missing the point.

The conclusion of this report would be more a question rather than a statement: are these brands going to survive to this challenge without losing their secular tradition? Who is going to be harmed the most and who the least? How could they build and create value with brand communities without forgetting about more conservative and traditional customers?

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VII. Appendix

Rolex, Omega and Patek Philippe perceptions on HowSociable? tool.

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Rolex, Omega and Patek Philippe perceptions on Social Mention tool.

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