How to stand out in Baselworld’s over-the-top booth craze

Luxury watchmakers are attempting to out-build each other's booths with giant structures and complex architectural designs at the 2013 Baselworld Watch and Jewelry Show April 25-May 2 in Basel, Switzerland.

Hermès, Swarovski, TAG Heuer, Rolex and other watch marketers have reinvented their booths this year to make their brands stand out among the 1,460 exhibitors. However, since many brands are upping their booth size and decoration, watchmakers are having to do more to stand out.

“With major events like this, the competition for next year begins before this year’s event has ended,” said Dave Rodgerson, senior management consultant of retail strategy and change at IBM Canada, Toronto.

“The process is very much like the NFL draft, except that the order of choice is determined by those companies that have invested the most in sponsorship over the past years,” he said.

“The brand is, and will always be, an important element in the formula for success, but these are showcase events where new launches are announced and media content is generated based on the buzz and excitement of the experience.”

Building up

Many luxury marketers reimagined their booths this year to have a new look for Baselworld attendees.

Hermès’ pavilion is meant to be a physical representation of the brand’s fundamental value of craftsmanship, a commitment to handmade products, the elegance of natural materials and the appreciation of precision and innovation, per the brand.

Hermès pavilion

Japanese architect Toyo Ito designed the booth, which is more like a two-story box with steel framework and a second inner structure made of wood, glass and metal.

Inside the Hermès pavilion

Swarovski also created an elaborate booth that is more than 6,500 square feet in size.

The walls are adorned with 253,231 mirrored reflectors that symbolize the characteristic Swarovski jewels. Also, 22,856 LED lights are positioned to give the booth the illusion of a crystal structure.

Swarovski booth

The booth was designed by Japanese artist Tokujin Yoshioka, who began working on it in November 2011.

However, not all of the exhibitors focus on over-the-top displays.

For instance, Breguet is making a point to showcase its long history of watchmaking and innovation at its booth.

The brand is showing off the history of its innovations such as the tourbillion and the Chronométrie in a retrospective exhibit at its booth. The exhibit will also tour cities around the world after its display at Baselworld.

Breguet exhibit

Overall, it seems as though watchmakers are putting much time and effort into attempting to create the best booth experience.

“Once the booth location is settled, the brand may spend several months and several hundreds of thousands of dollars creating the look and feel of the pavilion, not to mention their investment in surrounding events for the attendees,” Mr. Rodgerson said.

“The intent is to create the most engaging and compelling experience in the show,” he said.

Bigger and better

Luxury marketers' Baselworld booths and displays are important to flaunt the brand and its products to its competitors.

Since the Baselworld attendees are mostly professionals in the industry who are aware of the brands exhibiting, the exhibitors then become competitive to see which brand can build the best booth.

“The product plays an important part,” said Al Ries, founder and chairman of Ries & Ries, a Roswell, GA-based marketing strategy consultancy. “But the design of the pavilions also speaks to the importance of the brands.

“The best products plus the best pavilions are going to be winners at Baselworld,” he said.

To give a booth more success, the exhibitors should look to tie-in other media to include those consumers who cannot be at the event in-person.

"This type of event is great for positioning the brand as innovative, but it is going to be rather crowded among all the other brands," said Ian Foley, a Portola Valley, CA,-based digital marketing strategist.

"One way to deliver higher share of voice is to tie the event with branded video or digital sponsorship for online and offline integration," he said.

"This would help extend the event from those who can attend in-person to broadcasting to a larger audience."

Also, watchmakers should consider how much return on investment an elaborate booth will give them before designing something new.

“It certainly looks like the competition is getting to be over the top,” Mr. Ries said. “If I were managing one of the brands, I might give a second thought to exhibiting at Baselworld.

“One needs to ask themselves, is the cost of the game worthwhile?”

Final take

Erin Shea, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York