Hublot recently celebrated the decade as the official timekeeper of the UEFA Champions League. To mark the opportunity, the house has released a special limited edition classic fusion chronograph. You may have noticed that Fratello is not covering it. why? Well, because such sponsorship and co-branded watches tend to be less interested in our readers. Releases like this are seen individually, but they may not be our bread and butter, but it’s more interesting to zoom out and see them in context.
That’s exactly what I want to do today. Hublot is a strange duck among the big, high-end watchmakers. Few things present this as clearly as the brand’s atypical cultural footprint. Let’s jump in!
The Holy Trinity of Watch Branding
I have written about branding in the world of watches before. My point at the time was that I could clearly identify the sacred trinity of watch branding. The majority of our beloved watch companies build their brands on three elements: heritage, craftsmanship and place.
“We’ve been around for 150 years, everything is done by hand, and we’re in the beautiful Valle de Jukes.” Most watch brands give this very variation on the theme. Throw adventure splashes (“someone wore this watch on the X or Y of the mountain”) and pinch of exclusivity (“creating only 2,000 watches a year”).
I want to create a word cloud for watch branding terms. It bets that terms like “savoir fair”, “craftsmanship”, “monopoly”, “history”, “mountain”, “switzerland”, and “heritage” will take prominent places.
Matching cultural footprints
So, what does the brand’s “cultural footprint” mean? I’m referring to the scope of activities and profiling outside the product itself. In most cases, this is sponsorship, corporate social responsibility efforts, events, and support.
It’s popular to laugh at this aspect of running a watch business. This is understandable as it feels like a bunch of theatres aimed at influencing our decisions. This is certainly true, but there’s a little more to it. No, Kylian Mbappé’s approval agreement may not be induced to purchase a specific watch. Still, the cultural footprint of a brand may, overall, have a very good effect on your views of the brand in question. The brand said, “This is our world. If it overlaps with yours, we should probably be our companions!”
Most watch brands (with the holy trinity of watch branding in mind) profile themselves rather fantastical. Sports? Certainly, but make it golf, tennis or race. Collaboration? Certainly, but make it with champagne brands and luxury car makers. Sponsorship deal? Certainly, what about the yacht racing team? It’s all pretty expensive brow, right?
Hublot Ambassador Kylian Mbappé
Hublot equals fusion
Hublot, on the other hand, literally adopts the belief of “fusion” when considering its cultural footprint. The brand is perhaps best known for being closely associated with soccer (soccer), as demonstrated in the latest Champions League edition and support of Mbappé. Soccer is a lot, but it’s not expensive. In fact, soccer represents people’s sport in most areas.
Hublot Ambassador Lang Lang
Hublot was also one of the first watch brands to embrace hip-hop. The one-off Beyoncé, which ordered for Jay-Z, sparked subsequent collaborations between the rapper and the entrepreneur. At the same time, staying within the realm of music, Hublot is currently signing an approval agreement with classic pianist Lang Lang. If it’s not a fusion, I don’t know what it is.
Hublot works in the realms of tennis, American football, auto cooking, art and design. Think about this. However, it is difficult to argue that this is not an atypical cultural footprint. Brands reverse legitimacy. Rather than getting legitimacy from traditional things, you get it from being at the centre of here and now. I happen to have a pretty refreshing mentality in this crossover.
Hublot Ambassador Patrick Mahomes
Hello Effect
You may argue that it goes against better marketing knowledge. After all, the brand’s cultural footprint is built on a cognitive bias known as the “halo effect.” The term coined by Edward Thorndyke refers to the tendency of people to apply emotions about one aspect of subjects across experience.
Simply put, you want a positive image of something outside to scrape your company. Organizing “Brand x Violin Genius” will leave Brand X hoping that people will recognize it as giving talented young people an opportunity within the flashy aura of classical music. We all do that. I know I tried to be with cool kids in high school.
Traditionally, branding is about consistency and consistency. I hope that all the queues are pointed in the same direction. So classical music, polo and champagne work together, just like climbing, diving and exploring. But Mbappé, Lang Lang, and Takashi Murakami? They don’t convey the same message, but Hublot somehow sits in the center as a logical binder.
Hublot Ambassador Takashi Murakami
Hublot plays now
I know that both Hublot and Branding are cumbersome subjects among watch enthusiasts. So why am I so interested in Hublot’s branding activities? I’m not sure, but they captivate me. Honestly, I think Hublot captures the spirit of our time better than most Highbrow Watch brands. This fusion, genre bending, and eclectic approach seems to coincide with the number of people who perceive culture in our globalized world.
I also think it’s helpful that Hublot’s products are very recognizable. They are expensive, modern and bold. You recognize any Hublot watch from across the room, but this is rare for relatively young watch brands. Having such a powerful and divisive identity at the heart of such an eclectic broader footprint seems like a recipe for success. We have already seen more traditional brands follow in the footsteps of Hublot. I think it will last longer.
What do you think about Hublot’s approach to branding? And which watch brand do you feel right? Please let us know in the comments below.
