We Go Together...

like.... I have absolutely no idea.  Seriously, I have no idea what to make of this one.

Courtesy of Tudor

It is clear that a very, very bad case of Millennialitis  is running unchecked at Tudor HQ (courtesy of the Urban Dictionary):

millennialitis

The belief of sales, marketing, and advertising professionals that the Millennial demographic represents a completely unique group of consumers and as such, entirely new approaches must be adopted. Even if the product you are trying to sell is intended for a completely different demographic, such as Depends Adult diapers.

"I tried to explain to the Creative Director that the hipster didn't represent our customer demographic, but she's got a bad case of millennialitis."

 

I mean, I wasn't going to buy a Tudor Black Bay, but now that I know that Lady Gaga is a brand ambassador...

 

Give me strength.

 

There is a reason, a very good reason, why the kids sit at a card table at Thanksgiving and aren't allowed to sit with the grown ups.  And in a strange way, I want to thank Tudor for reminding us about this. 

I appreciate that watch sales, right now, SUCK.  I get it.  But I will quote a movie near and dear to Generation X - Singles, as shared by Debbie Hunt (played by Sheila Kelley):

 
Desperation…. It's the world’s worst cologne

 

Not to worry, I suspect a "big time watch blog/online magazine" in New York will be all over this.

In the interest of transparency - I am a fan of Lady Gaga and her message.  But I am also a believer in understanding your demographic.  And as much as I like and support Lady Gaga and her music, this PR move by Tudor seems to be not entirely well thought out.

There is a reason why Rolex partners with who they do in terms of ambassadors and partners.  And there is a reason why Rolex continues to set the standard for how this is done.  

Now if the idea is that Rolex is for your old man, and Tudor is for your edgy cousin?  Well okay, fair enough. 

But at the price point that Tudor is selling watches?  I honestly don't think that they have fully grasped where the disposable income of the millennial demographic is really going.  I made the same comment when TAG Heuer pooped their Wranglers over partnering with DJs.  This is short attention span territory.  Lady Gaga is influential - and I have no doubt that someone at Tudor HQ is thinking "INFLUENCER"!  But if an influencer were enough to fuel watch sales on their own, then a certain brand who fawns at the feet of their Instagram-influencer buddy would be in every store, selling through crazy volumes, and the truth is that all signs show that they are not.  It is not to say that said influencer didn't help. But in that instance we were talking about a brand new watch company with no past, no track record... nothing to to speak of.  And frankly?  That is not Tudor. 

So another quote from another old fart -

Stick to the fundamentals. That's how IBM and Hilton were built. Good things, sometimes, take time.
Lou Manheim (as played by Hal Holbrook) in Wall Street. 

 

 

There Are No Coincidences

“A certain man once lost a diamond cuff-link in the wide blue sea, and twenty years later, on the exact day, a Friday apparently, he was eating a large fish - but there was no diamond inside. That’s what I like about coincidence.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Laughter in the Dark 

With the Super Bowl set to kick off, and Tiffany plumping a crazy amount of money for a glitzy ad/PR campaign, word leached out that CEO Frederic Cumenal had "resigned".  Word from Tiffany's HQ was that the timing of a resignation announcement was what Ned Flanders of Simpson's fame would say "put the wink in coinkydink" -

Shamelessly borrowed from the world-wide infoweb

Resignations accompanied with succession plans (albeit temporary ones) and press releases issued on a Sunday hours before major PR events don't just happen.  It is safe to say that this announcement was most likely intended for this week, but somehow the news started to leak. 

Now, let's go back to what should be the main points - Tiffany is not doing well.  I honestly have no idea how well, or how poorly their new watch collection is doing.  I don't tend to dip my toes in the jewelry business too often, but having passed by Tiffany's stores in the various cities I visit, I can agree that the luster is not what it once was.  Whether this is the fault of the most recent CEO or not is something that I am in no way informed enough to discuss.

I will also say that in my opinion, the Tiffany watches are ridiculously over-priced.  There, I've said it.  But again, Tiffany has been trying to play through some particularly bad hands of cards.  The litigation with that tiny Swiss private label company, SWATCH, certainly hurt them.  And just what Tiffany is supposed to represent now I don't really know.  Partnering with Lady Gaga is, I fear, a bit of a mad-dash down the rabbit hole fueled by Millenniallitis.  Per the Urban Dictionary and your pal Henki -

millennialitis

The belief of sales, marketing, and advertising professionals that the Millennial demographic represents a completely unique group of consumers and as such, entirely new approaches must be adopted. Even if the product you are trying to sell is intended for a completely different demographic, such as Depends Adult diapers.

I tried to explain to the Creative Director that the hipster didn't represent our customer demographic, but she's got a bad case of millennialitis.

by Henkitime January 16, 2017

The thing is, Tiffany has the potential to lead the discussion as to what the consumer should want, rather than the other way around.  There is a very good reason why we don't remember Audrey Hepburn in:

Breakfast at Zales