Rolex Submariner 16618 Black Tritium (16618 Tritium)

Success - Instinct vs strategy

GMT Italia - Summer 2011

Amongst the teams competing in the great watchmaking championships, two "dream teams" draw particular attention to themselves. One of them, led by Jean-Claude Biver, is stabled with the LMVH group. The other, under the watchful eye of Georges Kern, is to be found at the heart of the Richemont group.
Both run a brand, while

inspiring others, either directly or indirectly. Both are surrounded by a new generation of promising managers, such as Jean-Frederic Dufour at LMVH, or Alain Zimmermann at Richemont. Both implement their marketing strategies with unfailing efficiency. In both cases, obviously, we are talking about watchmaking, but also (above all?) about business.

At LMVH, annual sales in the watchmaking and jewellery sector added up to close on a billion euro on December 31 last year, showing an almost insolent 29% increase. At Richemont, it took only six months to pass the 900 million euro mark with the watchmaking division alone. Here also, growth was nothing short of incredible: +38% for the semester April to September 2010! Both these captains of industry face huge pressure, stiff competition - including internally - and similar challenges: conquering new markets, managing the supply chain and distribution network, ensuring growth and coherence with the brand values. Even though the demands - and successes - are similar, their style is completely different. There is Jean-Claude Biver's spontaneous, creative marketing. This man shows off his brand, Hublot, in the most unexpected places, maximising opportunities at major events. He is able to evaluate an event and make a decision in just a few minutes, moving onto turf already occupied by his competitors. We saw him flirt with Alinghi before taking over its sponsorship from Audemars Piguet. We saw him on the illuminated referee boards at the last World Cup, as well as lighting up the Vendôme column standing at the heart of the most prestigious location in Paris - and incidentally right in the middle of the logo of Van Cleef & Arpels, a watchmaking colleague and competitor. His brand is to be found on skis, bicycles and even... cheese wheels!

Georges Kern on the other hand, practises business school marketing with unfailing rigour. In his realm, creativity is not paramount, but is channelled and used as part of a long-term strategy. Be it IWC, Baume & Mercier or Roger Dubois, the markets are fragmented, with products distributed on a value pyramid and innovations selected depending on gaps that need to be filled, building the worlds of reference frameworks that accompany each brand down to the last detail. Baume & Mercier is spending this year under the Capeland banner, with its American East Coast flavour, while IWC took up residence in Portofino. Roger Dubois is ticking to casino time and even its USB sticks are shaped like gambling chips. Exuberance vs rigour, instinct vs strategy, the completely opposing style of these two men is apparent on all levels. Take their annual reports on the figures and performance of their brands.

The Richemont Group to which IWC belongs tends not to say too much and prefers to opt for secrecy, much in the same manner as private banks, as if opacity were a measure of power and success. In this respect, the operational style of the group chaired by Johann Rupert is very similar to that of Rolex. Jean-Claude Biver, on the other hand, sends waves of text messages to announce the results of his most recent exhibition, or the signing of a new partnership. At the end of the day, the information that he is supposedly sharing is necessarily only partial, but it is shared with such enthusiasm that it leaves a pleasantly transparent aftertaste.

The numbers are either stifled or proclaimed to the world at large, and the managers themselves also opt for high or low profiles. Jean-Claude Biver pops up all over the place in the columns of the financial press or social magazines.Georges Kern is more discreet, and while he is quite happy to appear next to football, cinema or literary celebrities, as soon as the public is involved, he promotes the brand itself. Asthey say at Richemont, "The brand is the star". So basically we are looking at two very different recipes for creating the same dish - success.