Sports, music biggest social conversation influencers for luxury watch brands

Rolex was the top luxury watch brand discussed on social media thanks to its posts regarding content in relation to local sporting events, according to EntSight.

Males on social media made up for the biggest sales conversions regarding luxury watches in online discussion, coinciding with the prominent interest in sports and music. LVMH was also a high contender within the social media spectrum, with its brands such as Bulgari and Tag Heuer seeing the most shares.

“The key takeaway from the report is that there is huge potential in the positive sentiment and genuine admiration audiences have for luxury watch and jewelry brands, both online and on social media,” said Edward Bass, cofounder and director of EntSight. “Our belief is that so far, this has not been tapped into and that brands need to consider how best to leverage it in the future.”

Brand relevance
The report revealed that brand loyalty is still alive today in the luxury watch world, with brand advocacy as a major theme within social media content regarding manufacturers. Luxury watch brands have a real potential to tap into this brand advocacy, creating greater bonds while also spreading to new customers.

Image courtesy of EntSight

Affluent males make up a large portion of the luxury watch brand advocacy seen on social media, leading the conversation regarding manufacturers. Brands such as Rolex are seeing success by incorporating sports into their marketing content and social posts.

EntSight's graph on luxury watch brands

Luxury watch manufacturers may also take a break from concern caused by smartwatches coming on the scene, as conversations and sentiment regarding the tech products has diminished since April 2015. Smartwatches are now the least positive category discussed within the luxury watch and jewelry sector.

Smart watches
While smartwatches were first thought of as a threat to luxury watch brands, this may be a less of a worry than previously thought. Some brands are finding ways to circumvent the potential concern.

For instance, French leather goods house Hermès and Apple have been partnering and recently continued their collaboration built on similar values of beauty and utility.

Revealed during Apple’s livestreamed event on Sept. 7, the next generation of Apple Watch Hermès will be available with an expanded selection of leather straps as well as a new orange sport band. This partnership between fashion and technology allows Apple to raise its luxury appeal while affording Hermès the opportunity to position itself as an innovator (see more).

Swiss watch brand Hublot is taking on the tech giants with a cinematic approach for the unveiling of its latest watch to show off the full power of the record-breaking timepiece.

The new Hublot MP-05 LaFerrari Sapphire watch was created in partnership with Italian automaker Ferrari to embody its hybrid supercar, the FXX K. The new watch has a power reserve of up to 50 days, a first for the brand and was revealed with a short film shown on the roof of the Ace Museum in Los Angeles (see more).

“Whilst we were not surprised to see a much larger share of conversation relating to smartwatches compared to luxury watches, bearing in mind the large tech brands that are behind these and the fact that it is a new category, we were surprised to see such a significant fall off in conversation from when the Apple Watch was released in 2015 and now,” Mr. Bass said “We also expect this to decrease further as these products become the norm.”