COINCIDENCE?
Let’s get straight to the point, nobody can deny Ice Watch does not sound similar to Swatch. Beyond the name, Ice Watch has the same price positioning and uses the same codes than Swatch.
And we are not only talking about the global line but also about some specific models.
For example, if we have a look on Ice-Love by Ice-Watch (on the left below), we can find some similarities with True Love by Swatch (on the right). The Belgian brand was also careful to put a heart on its box, as Swatch did.
Then, our survey also confirmed that Ice Watch still have some way to go since many of the participants thought Ice Watch was part of Swatch. Moreover, according to a French investigation by the Swatch Group in 2011, 26% of respondents think that Ice Watch watches are produced by Swatch. This leads us to affirm Ice Watch has not clearly defined its identity yet, and has taken advantage of Swatch notoriety.
It would appear that Ice Watch has just followed the Swatch path, but its founder Jean-Pierre Lutgen, seems to disagree. According to him, plagiarist must be well punished as he said in an interview with PME KMO Business Magazine “It is an honor to know others copy us but still, it is completely unacceptable… We do not hesitate to take legal steps in order to protect our brand identity”.
To illustrate this war against counterfeit, the Belgian has organized the destruction of 3,500 counterfeit copies in 2011 with… A TANK!!!
JP Lutgen clearly reveals no scruple about punishment so we may think similarities with Swatch were just some coincidences. Unfortunately, other companies are annoyed with Ice Watch! This is the case for Lego, which has denounced the packaging of Ice Watch, because it particularly looks like its bricks. Lego won the case at the end of 2012. Thus, Ice Watch has to stop every packaging, pendants, displays, and all items that resemble by any means to the Lego’s bricks.
Besides, Ice Watch has planned to develop a smartphone in 2014, and intend to call it Ice Phone. We think Apple should moderately appreciate.
Yet, the brand succeeds in attracting consumers.
It is the most popular Belgian brand on Facebook and it does not look like it but Ice Watch has far more likes on Facebook than Swatch have (close to 2 000 000 more)!
This difference may come from their different communication.
While Swatch has rather create a branding experience with big investments (own stores, sportive sponsoring, TV ads, etc.), …
… Ice Watch mostly focus on the web (social network) and through its product placement with some celebrities, such as the DJ David Guetta, his wife Cathy Guetta or the singer Fergie (Black Eyed Peas).
Ice Watch wants to provoke but differently from Swatch, which manage to catch consumer’s attention without nudity or kind of rudeness (“F**ck me I’m famous!) as these old posters can remind it to you.
In a nutshell, Ice Watch has not established a successful 4Cs as Swatch did.
The brand is not perceived by the customers as Ice Watch would like if we have a look on the Brand associations , indeed some pejorative words such as "chinese", "cheap", "copy" are associated to the brand. Moreover, there is not enough clarity since people still think Ice Watch is part of Swatch...
LH.
Sources:
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire