Reheated Leftovers - The Rebirth, Rise, and Fall of (Daniel) JEANRICHARD

I was having one of my semi-infrequent conversations with the sales director of a Swiss brand (no names!), and part of the conversation was about the recent trend towards (trying) to resurrect dormant (or dead) brands. His contention was that it was a great idea if you had an established brand and you brought in the dormant brand to offer more diverse options (such as those mapped out by Breitling's CEO) to cover more price points. I won't go into my feedback on this, and as I am not currently retained by his brand it doesn't really matter whether he follows my advice or not ; )

But it did get me thinking of one of the more unfortunate triumph-turned-failures of the last 15 years. Long story short - not all brand resurrections "stick". So as we get ready for the Geneva shows, I thought I'd reheat this cautionary tale...

JEANRICHARD IS BACK, BABY!!!

Courtesy of JEANRICHARD

After a quiet 5 year sleep, the dream is finally a reality - Sleeping Beauty has awoken and ready to take on the watch world again!

Of course if you've checked your calendar, you realize that while this is not The Onion, it's also not actual fact.

JEANRICHARD lives on as an example of how to build, and then wipe out goodwill in the press and the watch fan base in three short years.  

Shamelessly borrowed from the world-wide infoweb

Let's hop in the WABAC Machine to those thrilling days of yesteryear - 2012. Jean Richard, which would later change its name to JEANRICHARD had bobbed up on the surface of Watch Town's picturesque Lake Whatif.

I wrote a fairly (I thought) innocuous piece about it.
Curious to relate, I got a very warm and fuzzy email from the newly minted head of JEANRICHARD North America inviting me down to Los Angeles in January in a few weeks to view the new collection.

And thus began my personal obsession with all things JEANRICHARD. My interactions with the JR folks were an early lesson that relationships with watch brand folk are more frequently than not, transactional. Which in and of itself is not such a tragedy, but underscores the transitional nature of the reality of life working as a brand manager, sales manager or even CEO - you are more often than not simply a place holder waiting to receive your pink slip.

The marketing plan behind JEANRICHARD was, well, baffling. Brand partnerships included a (literal) tight rope walker, a B list actor, multiple rugby teams and players and the coup de grâce - Miss France herself back in 2016. A few curious facts about the arc of JEANRICHARD partnerships - they went from global (including the Arsenal Football Club), and petered out to almost exclusively French ones.

So what went wrong? Well, as early as 2014 brand loyalists were pointing fingers and those who hadn't already jumped ship were plotting their escape routes. In 2013 GP had made their triumphant return to BaselWorld and in an equally impressive booth right next-door was JR. The next year, the JR booth had shrunk to half its size. By 2015 pretty much everyone had departed, and the entire JR operation had been compressed into ONE room which looked like a storage closet had exploded inside of it, with a harried PR person (external) in tears as she handed visitors baseball hats, year-old catalogs and looked as if she was about to walk out herself.

And then JR was put to sleep, and Prince Charming still has not shown up to awaken her with a kiss (or massive cash injection).

But really, those are more the effects. Let's talk about the causes -

1. Cockiness
Interestingly, the brand management was very good at making quick friendships, but then forgetting that the watch business is a relationship business. Retail partners were frequently left screwed when the grey market would (not infrequently) be flooded with the same product that they had just purchased for their stores. This then trickled down to the customer, who felt like a total rube for paying full price 2 weeks prior only to find it on a grey market super-store website for 50% off. And finally, we members of the press. Those of us who were early supporters were jettisoned once more "attractive" outlets came into view. Curious to relate? Once those big outlets had sucked all the money they could out of JR, the moved on to the next warm body.

2. Short term tunnel vision
The brain trust at JR decided if they could sell 100 pieces, then surely they could sell 10,000 at an even higher price. Moreover, if people are happy with black, silver, blue, green and aubergine (I owned and loved that one), then let's have 500 different SKUs!

3. They felt the need to have the best looking date at the Prom
Step 1 - get a partner
Step 2 - get a better looking partner (and 86 the first partner)
Step 3 - get an even better looking partner (and 86 the second partner)
Step 4 - get dumped and go back to the first partner and act as if they were always their first choice. I spoke to several retail partners who felt that way - and I certainly felt that way as a member of the press.

4. Refusal to admit that mistakes were made, and refusal to adjust the plan
Watch brands make knuckle-headed decisions several times a day. The trick is to recognize when things are not going to right themselves, and GO BACK to the plan that was working.


Here's the irony - there are STILL a lot of people who even though they got burned, would likely embrace JEANRICHARD again. For my part, I would be the leery jilted partner in the Rom Com who would have to be won over again by the end of the movie.


JEANRICHARD could still be awakened, could still be something, but it will require a good, hard look at what went wrong, and a cautious, thoughtful approach. If my memory is correct, before he bought and reinvigorated Girard-Perregaux, Daniel Jean Richard was the first jewel in the Macaluso family crown. It deserved a better fate than the one it is currently enduring. Let's hope someone, somewhere is ready to salvage what truly could be an interesting brand.

What If? JEANRICHARD

Would you buy this watch?  I know I sure would, and for approximately 21 months, most of the watch world would have too.

Courtesy of JEANRICHARD

My personal obsession with both Girard-Perregaux and in this particular case, JEANRICHARD, borders on the unhealthy.  In 2013 JEANRICHARD reemerged from a long, somewhat drunken slumber, born again in the form of a modular casing system that not only allowed for a consistent look across three different families (Terrascope, Aquascope and Aeroscope), it also allowed for easier production and manufacture owing to a standard "chassis".

I was excited.  Hell, most of the watch world was excited.  The timing of the release was, seemingly, cursed as Tudor returned to the US market the very same year.  But curious to relate?  JEAN RICHARD had a very successful debut as GP had decided to come back to BaselWorld, and that first year they enjoyed a fair bit of success.  But post BaselWorld, their marketing and PR folks (both in-house, and the US PR firm that they hired) started making some decidedly dubious choices about how to promote the brand.  They literally walked a "high wire" with Nik Wallenda, rugby players, a Master Chef winner (Luca Manfe), and then grasped for the brass ring with their partnership with Arsenal.  In a PR/publicity sense their eyes were bigger than their wallets.  What started out as a very sound, very rational product offering ran off the rails, and in less than 2 years' time, jumped the shark.  

Shamelessly borrowed from the worldwide infoweb

I got an early peek at the new collection in January of 2013, later that year we all got to see everything at BaselWorld.  And that was a curious experience for myself and several other journalists covering the story.  In that first year, it was challenging for JEANRICHARD to get the big dogs to pay attention.  Many of the established outlets poo-poo'd them.  For myself and others covering it, we thought it was something interesting, something cool that had very real potential.  And for us it was great because we had access to review product, we got asked to lunch when the US brand manager was in town, emails actually got answered.  

And then there was a shift.  Suddenly the bigger outlets were starting to cover them, and those of us "early adopters" were, essentially, jettisoned from the press list, forced to read the news on other outlets.  But this went further.  Because what had started out as a charming campaign, referring to actual watches, then shifted to a focus on partners, co-branded watches, and the amount of SKUs multiplied at the rate of the cooties in that movie Contagion.

The inevitable happened, in order to make sales numbers, sales managers started looking the other way as the prices were slashed.  It didn't help that the shot-callers were selling directly to trans-shippers and grey market outlets.  You couldn't find a JEANRICHARD at full price, because they were all deeply discounted.  Keep in mind, this all happened in approximately a 2 year period.  From hero to zero.  Their first year back at BaselWorld, they had an equal sized hall to GP.  Year 2, that was halved.  Year 3, there was one room that looked as if the junk drawer of a watch repair shop had exploded, with a very harried PR person nearly in tears trying to present watches in a setting that was not dissimilar to a Walmart following the Thanksgiving Day sale.

Brand managers left for pastures greener, retail partners opted to cut bait, and JEANRICHARD was put into a "Sleeping Beauty", where it slumbers still.  Their last Facebook post was in February, THREE YEARS AGO, and there is no other apparent "proof of life".

But, and it's a big but -

there is one guy out there with the talent, experience, and let's just call it like it is - COMMON SENSE to bring JEANRICHARD back from its deep sleep.   The core collection of three families is good.  People wanted it, they will want it again.  But it will take someone who can park their ego at the door.  A sort of "elite commando" team of watch dogs who can roll up their sleeves, and focus on making and selling watches, not on photo opportunities, friends of the brand and velvet ropes.  It can be done, but it will take some outside of the watch-box thinking. 

Focus on watches, communicate consistently and evenly, punch your weight.

Kering, if you're reading this, I know the guy to take this on, and I won't even charge you a finder's fee.

www.watchcarrion.com

As the industry continues to seek the bottom, the bottom continues to become more and more elusive.  And where there is fetid product, there will be a need to get rid of it.  And as much as I would like to say it's evil dealers, shifty distributors trans-shipping, etc. the simple truth is a lot of brands got themselves into this mess. 

And I am now more and more convinced that watch brands can dig themselves out of this mess, but it will require the brands to let go of a few of their long-held beliefs.  And more importantly, it will require them to behave a little less hypocritically. 

So let's break it down!

1.  Brands need to own up to the fact that in many cases they are directly working with the grey, and light-grey market.  Go to BaselWorld and you will see the grey marketeers sitting in the same waiting lounge as the buyers from Shreve, sipping the same coffee, and meeting the same sales manager (and often the CEO)!  Brands have always utilized the grey market as a buffer to help make production and export estimates more elastic. 

So first things first, stop directly feeding the grey market. 

But along with that, stop feeding the light-grey market.  Touch of Modern and Mass Drop seem innocuous enough, but they are proving to be not even a viable short-term option.  When I can find a current model for LESS THAN HALF of the MSRP, why in God's name would I buy from an authorized retailer?  And it is important to understand that as more and more of the water is drained from the pool, the brand's reputation and perceived value continue to lower as well.  Because make no mistake, once Joma Shop, Ashford and Overstock.com are being undercut on price, they are going to start lowering their prices as well.  And then it becomes a sprint to the bottom.  The lower the price goes, the lower the perceived value.  Think I'm full of it?  Look at JEANRICHARD, a long time participant in the grey market.

JEANRICHARD, if not dead, might as well be.  At this point it has become horological carrion.  And the reason is simple, they could not sit tight, they could not focus on selling what they had, they were always convinced that the NEXT THING would solve the problem.  The greatest tragedy in all of this is that there are a lot of people out there who liked the watches and would have spent REASONABLE amounts on their watches.  But like so many other brands, the shot-callers had clearly consumed too much of their own bath water.  And it didn't have to be that way.  Millions spent on a re-boot. Fresh talent brought in.  A modular system (Terrascope, Aquascope and Aeroscope) that would standardize manufacturing and allow the brand to have a clear identity.  But the usual villains emerged as they had done at JEANRICHARD in the past.  We need at least 30 different dial options!  Partnerships!  And some of those partnerships were beyond ill-advised.  A tightrope walker was, in hindsight, an apt analogy for a poorly considered plan that many of us were convinced was the product of a hard night of drinking.  And then betting the farm on Arsenal pretty much put the final cannonball in the good ship JEANRICHARD's main sail.  The new and wonderful JEANRICHARD managed to come apart in the span of 18 months.  From hero, to sub-zero.  You can now get some amazing bargains, but it starts to have the feeling of buying a Trabant or a Yugo.  Good for kitsch value, but not much more. 

And it appears that JEANRICHARD is going to have plenty of company in the not-too-distant future.


2.  Brands MUST have a better understanding of what realistic sales volumes are, and more importantly must address and accept what realistic pricing structures are.  Budgets will always be predicated on sales.  That is just natural.  But this then means that instead of fantasizing about bonuses, promotions and red carpet events, you need to make honest, realistic forecasts.  It is better to not have enough product and create desire than to flood the market with too much.  It is better to make a modest profit than to lose millions. 

3.  And this is the big one - watch brands must make the decision to clearly identify themselves as either a perishable good (i.e. like fashion brands) or a durable good (like say, Rolex). Fashion created the concept of the outlet store or mall.  And Movado has embraced this idea.  It might be time for other watch brands to adopt the same idea.  Why should you dump millions of dollars in the grey market and see the value of your brand swirl around the toilet bowl of public perception for the benefit of .30 on the dollar when you could sell it yourself through your own outlet for .75?  Guess what?  You are STILL MAKING MORE than if you sold through the normal (non grey market) channels!

If you are going to view your product as the fashion industry does, then create your own outlet stores to manage oversupply.  Slowly choke the grey market dead.  You will lose a little bit of prestige in the short term, but nothing like the prestige you are currently losing while making even less money.

Or if you are making a durable good, treat it like one.  Adjust your budgets and your manufacturing accordingly.  Make fewer watches, be patient, and stop changing the product line every year or two.  Good things take time.  Better to invest time than to waste money, brand value, employees and the very brand itself.  Just ask JEANRICHARD.

Alas Poor JEANRICHARD, I Knew Them...

Life is full of disappointment.  A lot of missed opportunities, a lot of "What If's" and the rapid revival, ascension and now decline of JEANRICHARD should serve as a cautionary tale.

In less than 3 years (think about that pals and gals) THREE YEARS a seemingly dead brand was brought back to life with a very well-thought out and well executed plan, brought to the forefront of the watch buyer's consciousness, then sent crashing down through the squabbles, arguments and disputes within its own walls.

I remember when the new JEANRICHARD was rolled out - it was late 2012.  In early 2013 I was one of the first folks in North America to get my mitts on one at a "semi-private" viewing in Los Angeles.

What had killed JEANRICHARD in the past was too many SKUs, no clear message, and seemingly random (some might say) brain-dead partnerships.  Hundreds of JEANRICHARDs flooded both the grey market and Ebay.  What had always been considered an after-thought of a brand had pretty much run itself into the ground.

But change was about to happen.

And change came in the form of Michele Sofisti and Bruno Grande.  The concept was simple - an essentially modular watch case that could be adapted to three different collections - standard (Terrascope) diver (Aquascope) and chronograph (Aeroscope).  There was also a somewhat stand-alone collection that would house a manufacture movement while the other pieces would use "so-called" industrial movements (i.e. ETA, Sellita, etc.).

The watches were well-received.  That was the good news.  Some of the "notions" that went along with it left many of us scratching our heads -

The tag line for the brand was (and still is) - "Philosophy of Life"
Now I am not going to say that I am the world's best copywriter, but I still have NO IDEA what the f*&k that is supposed to mean.

In addition, what to many of us in the fourth and fifth estates privately voiced concerns over but publicly smiled and nodded were the very, very random and downright odd choices of "celebrity ambassadors" -

Nik Wallenda?  The JEANRICHARD Rugby Team?  And who could forget that world-famous culinary genius Luca Manfe?  Oh yeah, you're right - I never heard of him either.  But he toils away in the kitchen's of Manhattan, a true "Philosopher of Life".  

An Aresenal partnership was heralded as the tipping point that would put JEANRICHARD over the top and into the public consciousness.  The Gunners offered one big boom, and then not much else.

And then when sales stalled because budgets were once again predicated on unrealistic sales numbers which resulted in overproduction... retail partners bailed out.  A new CEO was brought in who clearly viewed JEANRICHARD as a grasping child.  JEANRICHARD staff either left or were "encouraged" to leave, and by the time BaselWorld rolled around again this year, the JEANRICHARD booth had been collapsed into the Girard-Perregaux booth and the viewing rooms looked like the aftermath of a garage sale visited by particularly aggressive bargain shoppers.  It had literally been turned "upside down".

And now, not unlike Wonka's factory - "Nobody ever goes in, and nobody ever comes out" could be applied to the feeling most of us have about JEANRICHARD.

The good news for many bargain hunters out there is that retail stores who have to "cover their nut" are slashing and burning - there are most assuredly bargains to be had - including those limited edition Arsenal watches

It didn't have to be this way.  It didn't have to (possibly) end like this

JEANRICHARD and Aresenal

For my friend, super-Gunner fan Ozdemir Mamodeally - 

This one's for you pal!

Courtesy of JEANRICHARD

JEANRICHARD becomes Global Partner as well as “Official Watch” of the emblematic London football club Arsenal FC of the English Premier League. This long-term partnership marks a major step forward for the newest oldest Swiss watch brand that is now going to play in the “Premier League” and for Arsenal that has a very strong global following.