Journée Internationale du Marketing Horloger
Attend International Watch Marketing Day: There Are Still A Few Places Left
Kalust Zorik has always been in the company of artists. However, his status as a marketing guru seems to be destined for more Cartesian activities. Performing once a year, and in 2018, for the 22nd time. Watchonista will be there: register here.
By Joël A. Grandjean
Contributor
Thanks to Zorik, watch marketing has been officially admitted to the University of Neuchâtel via a degree course recognized by the Swiss State. It's unique in the world. And as if that wasn't enough, every year in La Chaux-de-Fonds, on the cusp of winter, in a mythical hall renamed "L'Heure Bleue" which was once the famous Music Hall through which all forms of artistic expression passed, our gentleman is up on stage.
Staging for content
On December 6, 2018, a panel of guests will distill knowledge via roundtable discussions - or documented presentations. The show is scheduled from year to year, it is a highlight in the watchmaking sector. The stage is transformed, the wireless microphones pass from hand to hand, the pulpit is in tune with the big screen, a moderator, using repartee, grabs the balls and throws them back. And, since the show must go on, a comedian or cartoonist sketches the highlights and fills in the gaps. The day is spiced with intense networking, with a rather hearty cocktail dinner and La Semeuse coffees.
Watchonista on the program with Alexander Friedman
On the balcony too, questions will arise. This year's theme: "Advertising 4.0, the new codes". And always (as it has been in the past few years), Watchonista's participation in the proposed panels. This time, Alexander Friedman, Co-founder of Watchonista, is invited to share his expertise on the theme of "New trends in visual advertising". But where does Kalust Zorik get his ideas on topics to be discussed? Zorik says, "by looking for themes that will solve poorly resolved problems."
Interview with Kalust Zorik
JAG: So that's how you find the JIMH themes?
Kalust Zorik: It is an ongoing reflection in our committee where the trio formed by the presidency, the coordination for research and myself exchange a lot in order to identify tomorrow's themes. Themes on which we can stimulate international research and provide a common thread to participants to enrich the Marketing axis of this industry that we are passionate about.
JAG: Is marketing a science?
KZ: Unlike the exact sciences, Marketing is part of the human sciences which depend on how we define our business and especially if we adhere to these definitions. Marketing is not advertising, it defines business from the outside to the inside.
JAG: What does marketing really allow?
KZ: It allows you to discover unresolved or poorly resolved customer problems in the target market, to know customers and their problems, related to our field, better than they know themselves. It makes it possible to create innovative solutions to these problems, to communicate these solutions to a well-defined group of future customers, to put customers at the heart of the company. Marketing is a state of mind that must prevail throughout the company to be successful.
JAG: How is watch marketing different from Marketing in general?
KZ:
Watch Marketing applies to a very wide universe related to the measurement and expression of time. In its various applications, we can go from a mass audience and offer, to the most extreme luxury and thus cover a vast field of strategies and make no mistake about it.
JAG: Why study watch marketing at university?
KZ: To develop the academic side of a human science and provide the tools that will ensure that the actions undertaken will have a solid and scientific basis.
JAG: Are there any student authors of theses on horological marketing?
KZ:
Yes, each student for his CAS in Watch Marketing must submit a personal thesis, in addition I am often contacted by marketing students in various universities who for their master's work choose themes linked to the watchmaking sector.
JAG: In watchmaking, between "marketing people" and manufacturing, there is a gap. How to fill it?
KZ: Technology and marketing are and must be intimately complementary. Without technical knowledge and understanding, marketing cannot work and without hearing the sound from the outside the technique cannot be in adequacy with the market. The quartz crisis would not have happened if marketing was considered "noble" in this industry.
JAG: At a time when data is circulating, at a time when it is not only necessary to collect it but also to learn how to catch it, is marketing still essential?
KZ:
If you want to sell anything to anyone and think you will be successful, marketing is useless. On the other hand, if you want to select your audience, choose the target markets, identify, anticipate and define their needs and desires. Adapt the company to provide products and services that generate high satisfaction for this targeted audience and excellent profits for the company. Data must be the tools.
JAG: You have launched, without necessarily having claimed it, new words, words that modify perception. Watch co-contracting (instead of subcontracting), MIPs, Most Important Personnalities (instead of VIPs), what is your next word?
KZ: A word and a trend that I have named for myself only: mobiling.
JAG: What do you expect from the time that goes by?
KZ: Time is life, it is the astronomical formula in which we exist and undergo its laws.
JAG: You have always been close to artists, are you one of them?
KZ: My wife is a contemporary artist, conceptual, she works on beauty; I also work on concepts, but from business, my approach becomes pragmatic...
JAG: How many books have you published?
KZ: With my accomplice Prof. François Courvoisier we co-edited 10 books on Marketing Horloger. The 11th one comes out this week "Watch Marketing: Digital Intelligence".
The watch marketing books can be found on the official website or can be ordered from Editions Loisirs et Pédagogie LEP.
Panel with Watchonista, from 11:00 - 11:40 on Thursday, December 6, 2018.
"New trends in visual advertising"
Alexander Friedman, co-founder of Watchonista
Johan Delpuech, President, Sid Lee Agency, Paris