I do agree with some of your points Hubert, but some of the marketing stuff that TAG is doing in order to 'survive' seems like overkill. For example, Rolex, OMEGA (to some degree) usually stay the course even in bad times. They stay true to their products and market which in my opinion does more to their band recognition. By always trying to create and produce products in order to have the perceive image that the new clientele that TAG is trying to attract will someday stay with TAG after their first purchase is some what premature. Rolex is the biggest the independent watch maker with probably the greatest brand recognition in the watch community if not the world. How did they achieve this? Well If you look back at their history, they really didn't do much. All they did was produced solid simple watches without a lot of diversification, some simple marketing and voila! Rolex simply stayed true to who they are and believed that great products will weather the storm once you have the trust of the public/buyer. Yes, times are different now and the competition is more competitive as ever but Rolex can put you on a 5 year waiting list for their new Daytona because they know the Rolex buyer will wait because they know the buyer trusts the Rolex brand.
I was at my local AD the other day to pick up an OMEGA and had an interesting discussion with my sales agent. This is the same AD where I buy my TAGs so they know me well. My agent was recently at a TAG dealer meeting and was given info on the new Autavia. He said that he will get one in for me when they become available in Q3 2017 (btw, the Autavias will be retailing for around $6,000 up here in Canada). Well to his surprise, I told him that I am no longer interested! Why he asked and I simply said, 'I don't like the direction the company is going'. And to my surprise, he said the same thing to me. He was so excited early last year with JCB taking over and getting TAG in line to where it should be in terms of pricing etc. With the the job well done with the Monza reissue and the creative way TAG came up with the Autavia contest, the agent was convinced that the company will finally get some respect back which the Heuer brand once had back in his day. Fast forward to now and with everything that has happened and is still happening, my agent just shook his head. No doubt he understands the need for TAG to stay alive but he disagreed by the way they are approaching it. I told him that 2016 was a terrible year for the Swiss watch industry and TAG was really the only one that came up positive. All of these marketing stuff has really worked right? The new connected watch got people to the brand right? My agent gave me the most interesting response. He said his store last year could not keep up with selling watches over $10,000 range! In some cases, the Breguets that sales for over the $50,000 range were all sold out. There is a waiting list! He said the watches in the $1,000 - $5,000 did not sell well at all! I said the reason why you sold the watches at the price ranges you did was simply demographics and the people that bought them like to show off right? He said no. The people who buys the $50,000 watch knows their watches. They appreciate and trusts the brand they are buying and would usually stay true to only a couple of brands. TAG is a brand nowadays that just want your money now and worry about another strategy to keep you later. TAG may of had an outstanding year last year compared to competition but how will they do 5 - 20 years down the road? Will that young millennia you attracted to buy your watch will still be buying you watch or will that young millennia that bought your watch because it was cool will still be wearing a watch at all? A Rolex buyer will always be a Rolex buyer because he/she trusts and appreciate the brand.
