IWC is Winning the Social Media Watch War

On the eve of Baselworld 2017, it’s time for the luxury watch industry to learn from IWC Schaffhausen’s social media dominance of the SIHH’s watch fair in January.

There is no question that one of the best ways for prestige watch companies to reach the next generation of customers is via the social media channels they spend all of their free time trolling. But, in general, most of the larger watch companies have struggled to find the right formula to digitally connect with potential customers.

One company that is bucking this trend is IWC Schaffhausen.

When it came to social media impact at this year’s annual five-day SIHH event in Geneva, Switzerland IWC stood head and shoulders above the 30 other watch brand exhibitors. According to a report by Launchmetics, the leading influencer marketing company, IWC was the clear winner, having both the most popular hashtags and posts.

In terms of top hashtags, first place went to the institutional #SIHH2107 handle. Then IWC’s #thecodeofme hashtag took the second place slot with over 200,000 likes. This was closely followed by the company’s #iwcsihh and #iwcdavinci hashtags that held the third and fifth place (the more generic #sihh hashtag held the 4^th place position).

“It’s super important to come up with the right hashtag”, said Clemens Von Walzel, IWC’s public relations manager. “You need a dedicated hashtag to track the success of your campaign. It also helps us to organically spread the message about a watch. A hashtag needs to say everything, but not be ordinary. You have to be brave and progressive when you chose one. For example, we did a partnership with Mercedes AMG. So for the event, we came up with the hashtag #IWCAMGOMG. A great hashtag can make all the difference,” explained Von Walzel.

Actor James Marsden reposts a photo from IWC’s CEO George Kern’s Instagram feed.

Many point to IWC’s CEO Georges Kern as the driving force behind the brand’s social media dominance. Since his arrival in 2002, he has made connecting to the brand’s customer base via social media a priority. The company was one of the first to sell its luxury watches online and its recent partnership with Mr. Porter and Net-a-Porter underline’s its commitment to selling luxury watches in the digital space.

“This is a great opportunity for us to make our products more easily accessible for a younger generation of watch lovers who are used to shopping online,” said Kern when IWC’s global agreement with Mr Porter and Net-a-Porter was announced in November of last year.

IWC, which is one of the largest luxury watch brands in the world, also dominated in terms of social media posts at SIHH. Besides the top ranking post, which was actor Ryan Reynolds promoting Piaget, the 2nd all the way to the 12^th top posts from the exclusive watch fair name-checked IWC in one form or another.

“In terms of influencers, Kern’s strategy of making what was previously a relatively unknown brand outside of central Europe into a glamorous Swiss staple was shaped with the help of famous spokespeople and ‘brand friends’,” explained Elizabeth Doerr, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the respected watch industry website Quill & Pad. “Most of these gather at the big gala event during SIHH, further propagating the buzz through the over 800 guests and their mobile phones. This attracts a lot of fashion influencers as well,” she added.

—IWC CEO Georges Kern, Adriana Lima, Jessica Kahawaty and Christoph Grainger-Herr attended the IWC Gala at the Salon de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva on January 17th, 2017 / Courtesy of IWC

According to Von Walzel these “friends of the brand” initiatives at IWC are ones that have been nurtured over the years and go beyond any traditional promotional arrangement. “This whole ‘friends of the brand’ thing is something that Mr. Kern came up with,” said Von Walzel. “He was the one who started this about fifteen years ago, from scratch. He just invited people he loved and admired. He had this gut feeling of who were the right people to partner with. Subsequently, we set up an integrated strategy which included an assessment of influencers and brand ambassdors with regard to their brand fit, their digital footprint, and other important factors,” he continued.

IWC is part of the Richemont group, which counts a number of luxury watch brands in its stables including Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Vacheron Constantin. But in 2016, when the group’s global number dipped, IWC was the organization’s most successful brand. With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that it was recently announced that Kern has been named head of digital, marketing, and watchmaking for the group. He will begin this new job at the start of next month. So count on the other Richemont brands soon following IWC’s highly successful lead in terms of strategy, online sales, and digital presence.

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Jessica Michault

Jessica Michault is the Senior Vice President of industry relations at GPS Radar by Launchmetrics. She is also the editor-at-large for ODDA magazine and contributes to publications like the New York Times, the Business of Fashion, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Mixte magazine.