I’ve been in the business a long time, but one thing that continues to mystify me is why some luxury brands bother to advertise? Today’s news that Swiss watch maker Patek Philippe is launching a global ad campaign via London-based Leagas Delaney Group who did the creative with Lowe Worldwide, New York, handling the U.S. media buy. Fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh shot the ads in black-and-white for the men's campaign and in color for the women's. Both campaigns feature still-life photography of the watches that is larger and more prominent than in previous campaigns. U.S. media buys for this campaign total $3 million, while last year Patek Philippe spent $6 million on ads, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus. So, here’s my first question. Is anyone buying a $10,000 watch influenced by advertising? My second is, doesn’t the mere fact that they’re advertising their watches reduce the cache value? Having said that, I wouldn’t mind one if they want me to write about it! 
I'll take a dozen!
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It's more of am after-the-fact phenomenon. Guys who drop $10K on a watch love to see ads glorifying what they just bought. Validates their expenditure. At least, it would for me. If I could afford one.
Posted by: Stan DeVaughn | March 10, 2006 12:28 PM | Permalink to Comment