Swatch Group Quits Basel World (Reuters)

Syrte · Jul 30, 2018

tyrantlizardrex
I hadn't realised, but it sounds like it did a world tour: http://www.theglassmagazine.com/omega-her-time-exhibition-opens-in-hong-kong/

Silly me, I didn't register that's the one you were referring too. Actually I was thinking exactly of that one too -- sadly I missed it but it did travel to my city.

Edit / add: I also think vintage watch exhibitions like that one and others serve to highlight the difference between a watch they make and the new electronic watches.
To differentiate themselves, they need people to see watches as works of art, and they need to bring the watches to the people, instead of spending money on a glitzy event only accessible to professionals and a priviledged few who are already a core audience for the watchmaking industry.

igatomic · Jul 30, 2018

If Swatch controls/owns Breguet, Omega, Blancpain, Glashutte, Longines, Rado, Tissot, Hamilton and Swatch, do they really need Baselworld, or is it the other way around? If Swatch put on their own show at/near Basel, they'd get just as much attention.

SpeedyPhill · Jul 30, 2018

So they won't have to reveal everything at once in a single place... concerning all the anniversaries for which LEs are planned 😁

Riviera Paradise · Jul 30, 2018

Archer
It used to be for distributors placing orders, but it seems that is less what it has been about as time goes by.

For example you don't really order from Rolex - they force you to take what they want you to take, and what you want as a retailer doesn't matter. Now not all brands work this way, but I think there are other ways of doing this don't require every distributor to trudge to Switzerland each year.

Basel is also about manufacturers of parts, manufacturing equipment, tooling, etc. to show their wares to bigger brands and generate sales, but that part of the show doesn't get much press. I'm sure the show will carry on in some form, but it likely won't be the kind of show it has been in the past...

I think Al raises the key point here: Basel has always been an industry event and not a consumer event.

However, I do think that concentrating marketing effort on a significant "global" event where you can get media and opinion makers together does generate wider media press attention than just the continuous stream of new watch releases etc. For example the FT does specific Basel/SIHH coverage. So perhaps organizing these sort of "international" events for getting the message out to a wider audience than just the WIS community is still relevant? SIHH seemed to be very successful this year and Biver still does his "pirate" yacht thing, so perhaps we are still in a transition phase to full digital online marketing?

IMO it would not surprise me if the Swatch Group do their own event next year, where they can really pander the key opinion markers and Omega have some real theatrical staging to milk the Apollo 11 50th anniversary for every last drop. I think for brands such as Longines and Tissot, the retailer 1-1 meetings might still be important, but then again with China being such a significant part of the Longines market, they might prefer to focus on a specific event in China.

Another factor that might have influenced the Swatch group decision is the level of attention Rolex and Patek get during Basel. Rolex have always kept their cards close to their chest, so when they released the Pepsi SS GMT and theTudor GMT I think it pretty much drowned out much of what was being communicated by the Swatch group brands.

LouS · Jul 30, 2018

tyrantlizardrex
Case in Point: - at a boutique event in London, a member of Omega's retail staff tried to introduce me to Tom Manger, their UK marketing manager, who looked at my out stretched hand, looked at me, and then turned around and walked away. 🤔

You were wearing the onesie, I gather?

tyrantlizardrex · Jul 30, 2018

LouS
You were wearing the onesie, I gather?

Sadly no... the onesie only lasted one Christmas party in 2014... I lost it somewhere on the way home.

ConElPueblo · Jul 30, 2018

tyrantlizardrex
Sadly no... the onesie only lasted one Christmas party in 2014... I lost it somewhere on the way home.

You keep posting that and to date no-one has believed you 😁

tyrantlizardrex · Jul 30, 2018

ConElPueblo
You keep posting that and to date no-one has believed you 😁

I love that people would rather believe that I still have it, and am so embarrassed about having it, that I made up a story about going home in just my shoes, socks, boxer shorts, and a t-shirt, to conceal the truth.

::facepalm1::

Thread derailment ahoy. 😗

Fatcat · Jul 30, 2018

For me Basel World was a strange thing , in a part of Switzerland where no watches are build, created etc.... was not the good spot any way.

Kringkily · Jul 30, 2018

Baselworld is terrible. Sorry for any fans. The hotel, flights, restaurants and entry fees are just ridiculously overpriced for that week. They also don’t provide shuttle service from the hotel and venues plus food accomodations on site are awful (did I not mention overpriced). I understand it is a place to get industry people together and build human connections but when you treat people like cattle for the highest profit margin at these levels, you are going to eventually turn off a lot of people who love watches.

With Swatch now officially leaving I hope other brands do leave too making MCH focus on the brand experience and feel reach down to the retail clients. It’s sad but a necessary reminder that you can’t treat people like a number especially in this industry.

Riviera Paradise · Jul 30, 2018

Ariel Adams is speculating at ABTW that this is more a power posturing move by Mr. Hayek with MCH, sort of Ferrari threatening to leave F1 to get a better deal (my analogy not his) and also have a significant say in what changes should be implemented for Basel +2019.

If Ariel is right in stating that the new MCH management team announced changes to Basel 2019 without previously consulting their key clients...well that would indeed be an incredible level of corporate arrogance and stupidity, even for MCH.

Clearly MCH has much more to lose with Swatch leaving. Even if Swatch were to get a much better deal for Basel 2019, MCH would face similar cost and political pressure from Rolex, LVMH, Patek...

I believe that the dam has burst, humpty dumpty is in free fall and I am running out of cliches to state that product marketing seems to be following the second law of thermodynamics.😁

kilofinal · Aug 3, 2018

Just read the news that the CEO of Baselworld has resigned

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/time-up_ceo-of-baselworld-steps-down/44298074

The head of the world’s largest watch and jewellery trade show, the Swiss-based Baselworld, has handed in his resignation amid a row over the departure of several exhibitors.

The MCH Group announced that CEO René Kamm would resign from his position “in view of the fundamental transformation phase in business operations”.

During his nearly 20 years with MCH Group, Kamm played a crucial role in developing the Basel trade fair and positioned the company on new foundations,” according to a statementexternal link released on Friday.

The move follows criticism over the approach of the annual Basel fair. This year’s edition saw the number of exhibitors drop by 50% amid stable attendance.

Last Sunday, Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek announced his company would withdraw from Baselworld, as “traditional watch exhibitions are no longer useful for Swatch”. The group includes such brands as Breguet, Omega, Harry Winston, Longines and Rado.

Previously several other watchmakers have withdrawn from Baselworld - including Hermès, Ulysse Nardin and Girard-Perregaux - and have instead joined the international luxury watch show in Geneva (SIHH).

Syrte · Aug 3, 2018

I must say I can’t help think Basel World is getting some payback for bad karma. I was invited to an event by one of the exhibitors, and the Basel world staff were so incredibly unpleasant and arrogant. They demanded that I leave a business card as a condition to let me access the facility. I tried to argue that the invitation had nothing to do with my company or company affiliation, that I was visiting in a private capacity and had no intent to give my business card - and they basically said in the most unpleasant fashion that it was their way or the highway.
They were 10 times more nasty and unfriendly than customs officers at the Turkmenistan border (and even that comparison is unfair to Turkmenistan).
So if the whole organization is the same way.... it would seem they’re completely out of touch.

Riviera Paradise · Aug 3, 2018

Syrte
I must say I can’t help think Basel World is getting some payback for bad karma. I was invited to an event by one of the exhibitors, and the Basel world staff were so incredibly unpleasant and arrogant. They demanded that I leave a business card as a condition to let me access the facility. I tried to argue that the invitation had nothing to do with my company or company affiliation, that I was visiting in a private capacity and had no intent to give my business card - and they basically said in the most unpleasant fashion that it was their way or the highway.
They were 10 times more nasty and unfriendly than customs officers at the Turkmenistan border (and even that comparison is unfair to Turkmenistan).
So if the whole organization is the same way.... it would seem they’re completely out of touch.

Wow, what jerks.

When I read the news of the departure of the CEO earlier today it struck me that the supposedly "new management team" for Basel 2019 was in fact being led by someone who had been at MCH for nearly 20 yrs (I think he started in 1999?). Well if that's considered to be NEW, then the MCH time frame is positively prehistoric.

IF the MCH board really wanted to shake things up for Basel 2019+ perhaps the following sequence could have been a better path?

Step 1) Discuss with their key anchor clients such as Swatch, Rolex, Patek, LVMH what their vision of the show should be for the next five years. Discuss openly with these clients how the show would still be relevant taking into account disruptive factors such as social media/watch blogs, market growth in Asia etc. Of course Patek might be on a completely different track to Biver/LVMH, but as we saw with the Aquanaut Chronograph on an orange strap, Patek is clearly reaching out to a younger client base...so modernization and "millennial" capture seem to be common threads.

Step 2) Search for outside executive talent (possibly from outside the watch industry) to drive that vision and bring in new ideas.

That MCH invested a huge amount of money in a new building, expanding space for the show when all other trade shows worldwide were already showing a decline in attendance numbers does not exactly scream "strategic thinking". To be frank, I think they are up the faeces creek without any form of paddling device. The MCH debacle just goes to show how certain executives have still not woken up to the realities of doing business in the 21st century.

Foo2rama · Aug 4, 2018

Guys they are going to SIHH with riechmont and everyone else.

Pythonos41 · Aug 4, 2018

Says it all, "When you look at these old traditional watch fairs, it doesn't make any sense anymore," Hayek told CNBC. "We are present in the whole world with our brands, close to the consumer and the retailer. It especially doesn't make sense when you have a management of such a trade fair who thinks the brands exhibiting there are just people [who] pay and have nothing to say."

Syrte · Aug 4, 2018

Foo2rama
Guys they are going to SIHH with riechmont and everyone else.

Interesting, what makes you think so? Nicolas Hayek gave an interview to the Financial Times on July 30th where he says the Geneva fair is even worse and they’re not going.
He said they are « even more old-fashioned than Basel. It is a close, elite club. It is boring for everybody”. He suggested a new fair might need to be created in a new place in yet another city.

By the way, the interviews he gave are completely consistent with my unplasant mishap at the gate of the fair.
He impugned Basrl World’s arrogance, snobism and lack of creativity in several interviews, with CNBC and the Financial Times. He says they’re basically using exhibitors to amortize their building without taking their needs into account.
«They never really informed us about what they wanted to do. They just did what they wanted,«
It’s really telling how a corporate culture trickles down from the top all the way down.

STANDY · Aug 4, 2018

Think it's time Basel was shelved and more world wide shows of the like ( much smaller thou )

JimInOz · Aug 4, 2018

Don't worry, they're having "an exclusive three star restaurant"!

That'll pull the hordes in!

WTF is an exclusive three star restaurant anyway, a Maccas with table service?

🙄

Syrte · Aug 4, 2018

This does show again the profound (and devastating) effect of the internet on all traditional trade structures. Just as with Amazon for books and music, Uber / Airbnb for taxis and hotels, the intermediaries are mercilessly being squeezed out.
I won’t cry over Basel World, but I’m sad for the closing book stores and other vanishing traditional places of bricks and mortar trade which make our world so lively.

Riviera Paradise
That MCH invested a huge amount of money in a new building, expanding space for the show when all other trade shows worldwide were already showing a decline in attendance numbers does not exactly scream "strategic thinking". To be frank, I think they are up the faeces creek without any form of paddling device. The MCH debacle just goes to show how certain executives have still not woken up to the realities of doing business in the 21st century.

Funny, I initially though the same— but to be fair if the new building opened in 2013- it means the project must have been in the pipeline for a number of years.
And by the time 2013 came that was a while before the Instagram tsunami hit the watch world.
They certainly lacked vision and imagination, but if you look at most people’s watch accounts, virtually none existed before 2016 and it seems to me 2016-2017 was the time of the critical explosion.
That being said, that no excuse for failing to brainstorm with the major exhibitors.

Swatch Group Quits Basel World (Reuters)

Syrte

igatomic

SpeedyPhill

Riviera Paradise

LouS

tyrantlizardrex

ConElPueblo

tyrantlizardrex

Fatcat

Kringkily

Riviera Paradise

kilofinal

Syrte

Riviera Paradise

Foo2rama

Pythonos41

Syrte

STANDY

JimInOz

Syrte

Similar threads

Disappointed with Omega QC and Swatch Group Support - Misaligned Hand Brushed Off

Global Blue x Swatch Group VAT Refund Deal

Swatch group parts supply

Mystery Shipment from the Swatch Group?

MIDO - the unsung hero of Swatch Group

New Swatch x (Swatch Group Brand) may be coming