Baume & Mercier - Recaptures Life's Moments
WORLDTEMPUS - 26 January 2011
"One year ago we looked at the brand and recognized that we have a lot of assets, but at the same time we were missing a lot of brand identity," says Alain Zimmermann, Baume & Mercier's CEO, as he sits inside a totally reconstructed Hamptons-style beach house that has been made especially for this year's SIHH. The extravagant Hamptons beach mansion is complete with balcony, patio right onto the beach, and ocean murals - all of which made everyone entering feel as though they were right there living in the carefree moments of family beach life.
"Baume & Mercier is about emotions and we need to bring back those emotions, as well as the values we stand for: relaxing, happiness, family and friends," said Zimmermann. "To us, and universally, the Hamptons portrays this sense of security and family values, of sharing and authenticity. What makes it even better is that we have the Hamptons and the Capeland lines - both great water-oriented collections."
Interestingly, instead of taking typical marketing directions, where most brands start with product, Baume & Mercier began its redirection with the place and the concept. The brand selected the Hamptons as the kick-off location and then built its core plan around it, moving next to the product. As such, the brand is launching an entire advertising campaign around a theme touting living in the Hamptons and "Life's Precious Moments." The brand even traveled to the Hamptons to shoot its ads and new display photos on location. And it selected a local Hamptons family to be portrayed in the ads as well.
Finally, with the values, the place and the theme in line, the executives went to the brand archives and selected historical pieces to focus on as inspiration for new designs. "We studied whether we were more about Arabic or Roman numerals, more two-tone or single-metal color, and all sorts of other issues in our DNA and suddenly the puzzle pieces came together. It was important to us to resort to the past to bring a new b story with emotions to the forefront," Zimmermann explained.
The Capeland is the collection currently being reintroduced with the most fanfare. Remaining true to its price points, with just one "leader" line and the rest as core products, Baume & Mercier has unveiled several important new Capeland products, ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 in average price. Top among them is a chronograph outfitted with a Valjoux 7750 caliber. This is closely followed by new Classima products, which include well-designed jump hour and annual calendar models incredibly well-priced at around $5,000 and powered by Dubois Depraz. The brand also reenters the women's market with a re-launch of the Linea line.