Big Leaps, Big Returns: Watchmaker Hublot’s Approach To Sponsorship
Posted: 2/6/2012 3:05:43 PM by
Lesa Ukman | with 1 comments
I was in Switzerland last week meeting with Jean-Claude Biver about his keynote at Leap, IEG’s 2012 Sponsorship Conference next month.
Biver is chairman of the board of Hublot S.A. and has put the Swiss watch company on the map. Sponsorship has played a starring role in the brand’s transformation.
He joined the company as CEO and became a minority shareholder in 2004. In less than seven years, he has signed deals with UEFA, Manchester United, FIFA World Cup, Formula 1, FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, America’s Cup, Ajax FC, Flamengo FC Brazil, Mexican Football Federation, Hand in Hand (orphans in India), African Wildlife Foundation, Monaco Yacht Club and dozens more. Sales have skyrocketed and in 2008, Hublot was acquired by LVMH.
Biver’s approach to sponsorship is as iconic as Hublot watches’ porthole design:
Be first, be unique, be different. Hublot was the first luxury brand to sponsor European football. It stood out from the crowd of sponsors by giving all of its UEFA signage to a nonprofit working to abolish racism in football.
Use the reach of sports and entertainment to communicate an idea or value. As soon as you pay more than 50 Swiss francs (about $50) for a watch, you’re being irrational, Biver said, because that is the cost of a Swatch, which is as good as it gets for time-keeping. Sponsorship takes consumers beyond pure rational decision-making by demonstrating brand values and making people want to be a part of them.
For example, around its ManU deal, Hublot conducts fundraisers for UNICEF, the club’s official charity. With skier Bode Miller, Hublot sponsors the athlete’s Int’l Turtle Foundation. In addition to sponsoring the NBA’s Miami Heat, Hublot has committed to raising a minimum $750,000 for the team’s charitable foundation.
And, in the less than two years it has been official timepiece/timekeeper for F1, Hublot has produced eight co-branded F1 timepieces, raising money for the Ayrton Senna Institute, a foundation created by the Brazilian F1 star’s family after his fatal crash.
“The watch has become a communicating tool, a dream, an emotion,” Biver said.
Collaborate in areas beyond marketing. “We must give to sponsorship an asset each time we sponsor,” Biver said. “We need to build it out to reflect our DNA rather than just putting the logo everywhere.”
For example, Hublot’s new five-year partnership with Ferrari includes the expected—“official watch and timekeeper of Ferrari”; “timekeeper of Scuderia Ferrari,” the company's racing arm; and co-branded watches. But the collaboration also covers joint research into avant garde technologies and materials; Hublot designed portholes on the Ferrari dashboard; sales of Hublot watches in Ferrari’s 50 stores worldwide; shared events in emerging markets; and Ferrari materials incorporated into Hublot timepieces. “The team and the watch are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Biver.
The Hublot Ferrari debuts at BaselWorld watch fair next month, however, Biver will miss the occasion as he’ll be in Chicago sharing his innovative melding of sports sponsorships, endorsements, licensing and cause marketing with attendees of IEG 2012.
Jean-Claude Biver (left) and Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, president of Ferrari S.p.A.
Click here to learn more about IEG’s Annual Sponsorship Conference.
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