Which Watch Brand Spends the Most on Advertising?

[Maxy]

Watch brands spent almost half a billion dollars on advertising in the U.S in 2013. The total was $492.68 million: a record high, and up 23.3 percent from the 2012 total. That figure comes from Kantar Media, which each year compiles estimates of ad spending for a range of different products. The figures for 2013 signal that the U.S. watch market is still growing, especially as Swiss luxury brands turn their sights back from China to this country.


RANK BRAND AMOUNT ($million)
1. Rolex 61.48
2. Breitling 43.85
3. Cartier 24.58
4. Omega 22.96
5. TAG Heuer 22.00
6. Citizen 20.72
7. Movado 19.83
8. Chanel 17.87
9. Longines 16.02
10. Seiko 11.15
11. Breguet 9.58
12. Tudor 8.24
13. Patek Philippe 7.66
14. Hublot 7.59
15. Audemars Piguet 7.39
16. Bell & Ross 7.11
17. Dior 6.05
18. Swatch 6.05
19. Montblanc 5.64
20. Ball Watch 5.37
21. Armitron 5.35
22. Chopard 5.20
23. Rado 4.95
24. Baume & Mercier 4.92
25. Shinola 4.66
26. Parmigiani 4.62
27. Raymond Weil 4.51
28. Ulysse Nardin 4.50
29. IWC 4.02
30. Vacheron Constantin 4.01
31. Zenith 4.01
32. Harry Winston 3.80
33. Louis Vuitton 3.73
34. Casio 3.65
35. Luminox 3.62
36. Tissot 3.46
37. Oris 3.42
38. Timex 3.19
39. Bulova 2.97
40. David Yurman 2.91
41. Garmin 2.67
42. Fendi 2.67
43. Coach 2.65
44. Panerai 2.59
45. Glashütte Original 2.54
46. Victorinox 2.52
47. Girard-Perregaux 2.42
48. MTM 2.34
49. Fossil 2.30
50. Ralph Lauren 2.26
51. Piaget 2.15
52. Jaeger-LeCoultre 2.14
53. Anne Klein 2.12
54. Michele 2.05
55. Richard Mille 2.05
56. Bulgari 1.95
57. Blancpain 1.78
58. Carl F. Bucherer 1.67
59. Graff 1.59
60. Pulsar 1.38
61. Stauer 1.37
62. ALOR 1.34
63. Ebel 1.33
64. Emporio Armani 1.33
65. Gucci 1.25
66. Kenneth Cole 1.22
67. Frédérique Constant 1.08
68. Hamilton 1.01
69. Jorg Gray 1.00

http://www.watchtime.com/wristwatch-...ising-in-2013/

[SUBversive]

Interesting list

I would have thought Michael Kors would be first.

[Laszlo]

Interesting about Patek's placement, guess those beauties pretty much sell themselves.

[Old Expat Beast]

Do these figures include sponsorship?

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

Do these figures include sponsorship?

Good question, the same thought crossed my mind. The figure for Rolex seemed low to me

[HL65]

Originally Posted by brandrea

Good question, the same thought crossed my mind. The figure for Rolex seemed low to me

It can't look at AP's number and Richard Mille.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by HL65

It can't look at AP's number and Richard Mille.

[ippon20]

Funny thing was when I worked for one of the top 5 (not rolex) the Corporate office always said, the only reason Rolex does so well is because the spend so much on advertising. Then you see something like this and I just have to laugh at the Koolaid that was being served.

I do not believe these figures include sponsorship.

[kilyung]

I'm surprised Seiko spends that much... I guess they market outside of my sphere of attention because I don't see it.

[wisguy]

Would be interesting to have production or sales volume, to know how much the spend "per unit" and have a real comparison, otherwise it's hard to tell who spends the most.

Ideally we would need to know how much each brand spends as a % of revenue, that is the true measure in my mind.

[yjfang]

FP Journe not on that list yet it is one of the most respected brands, and up there with the holy trinity.

[kilyung]

Originally Posted by yjfang

FP Journe not on that list yet it is one of the most respected brands, and up there with the holy trinity.

They spend, relatively, very little on marketing from what I've seen. Not that there's any correlation between horological prestige and marketing spend.

[HL65]

One question: Has advertising ever led you to one of your watch purchases? For me easy answer no never not even once. Now TRF threads and posts and enabling different story.

[jjnd08]

Originally Posted by HL65

One question: Has advertising ever led you to one of your watch purchases? For me easy answer no never not even once. Now TRF threads and posts and enabling different story.

Definitely agree with this. But I have seen some watch ads that have made me research a watch more, but I haven't purchased any.

[bradj]

Originally Posted by HL65

One question: Has advertising ever led you to one of your watch purchases? For me easy answer no never not even once. Now TRF threads and posts and enabling different story.

Subliminal advertising.. I bought my sub because I picture myself looking like this:

[kilyung]

Originally Posted by HL65

One question: Has advertising ever led you to one of your watch purchases?

Watches? No but Michael Jordan convinced me on the merits of Hanes tagless t-shirts.

[HL65]

Originally Posted by kilyung

Watches? No but Michael Jordan convinced me on the merits of Hanes tagless t-shirts.

[jdog19]

Interesting, since the only real advertising I see are the sporting event sponsorships. I must need to get out more or watch more tv

[rolexnub]

I am suprised PP spends less than Seiko.
It would be nice to see a list as to how much the different watch companies are earning (net profit).

[HL65]

Originally Posted by rolexnub

I am suprised PP spends less than Seiko.
It would be nice to see a list as to how much the different watch companies are earning (net profit).

I am not at all in fact I'd even expect they would be lower. Not sure what they would gain from more advertising as they are who they are and all looking for watches at that level are very much aware. They are never going to be a mass marketer or producer and are a niche watch company with a niche market. The Stern family has built Patek into a multi billion dollar business while keeping it privately owned. They have kept the focus on high quality and cater to top end of the watch market. Companies that spend a ton on advertising are looking to keep growing their market share and clearly sell more product. That is a far different strategy than Patek who can only make so many watches a year unlike Rolex who can crank out close to a million. Different strategy--different business model and different market. Neither is wrong and both work fine and together for me as a collector I need not look anywhere else. So long answer to I am not surprised Patek spends less than Seiko.

[otisc]

Does this ad budget include marketing? Because TAG spends a small fortune on hiring ambassadors.

[wisguy]

Ok, so I scoured the net for production volumes, right or wrong these are ballpark figures and somehow directionally correct, I believe they shed much better light on who is spending the most:

Brand Watches produced Marketing Budget $ Per watch $
Seiko 12,000,000 11,150,000 1
Tissot 2,500,000 3,460,000 1
B&M 200,000 4,920,000 25
Longines 600,000 16,020,000 27
TAG 750,000 22,000,000 29
Omega 750,000 22,960,000 31
Panerai 75,000 2,590,000 35
JLC 60,000 2,140,000 36
IWC 75,000 4,020,000 54
Rolex 1,000,000 61,480,000 61
Montblanc 75,000 5,640,000 75
Bell & Ross 90,000 7,110,000 79
Carl F. Bucherer 20,000 1,670,000 84
Piaget 20,000 2,150,000 108
Zenith 25,000 4,010,000 160
Blancpain 10,000 1,780,000 178
Ulysse Nardin 25,000 4,500,000 180
Patek 40,000 7,660,000 192
Vacheron Constantin 20,000 4,000,000 200
AP 30,000 7,390,000 246
Cartier 100,000 24,850,000 249
GO 10,000 2,540,000 254
Breitling 160,000 43,850,000 274
Breguet 25,000 9,580,000 383

In the abscence of marketing expense as a % of revenue I believe this a better measure than an absolute number.

Some of this numbers are surprising, don't you think?

[engin33r]

Originally Posted by wisguy

Ok, so I scoured the net for production volumes, right or wrong these are ballpark figures and somehow directionally correct, I believe they shed much better light on who is spending the most:

Brand Watches produced Marketing Budget $ Per watch $
Seiko 12,000,000 11,150,000 1
Tissot 2,500,000 3,460,000 1
B&M 200,000 4,920,000 25
Longines 600,000 16,020,000 27
TAG 750,000 22,000,000 29
Omega 750,000 22,960,000 31
Panerai 75,000 2,590,000 35
JLC 60,000 2,140,000 36
IWC 75,000 4,020,000 54
Rolex 1,000,000 61,480,000 61
Montblanc 75,000 5,640,000 75
Bell & Ross 90,000 7,110,000 79
Carl F. Bucherer 20,000 1,670,000 84
Piaget 20,000 2,150,000 108
Zenith 25,000 4,010,000 160
Blancpain 10,000 1,780,000 178
Ulysse Nardin 25,000 4,500,000 180
Patek 40,000 7,660,000 192
Vacheron Constantin 20,000 4,000,000 200
AP 30,000 7,390,000 246
Cartier 100,000 24,850,000 249
GO 10,000 2,540,000 254
Breitling 160,000 43,850,000 274
Breguet 25,000 9,580,000 383

In the abscence of marketing expense as a % of revenue I believe this a better measure than an absolute number.

Some of this numbers are surprising, don't you think?

Good one, this is a more proportional view on their spending. However, it would be better to actually measure their advertising budget against their revenues (in percentage). As the prices of those watches are vastly different.

[zama]

Accept this is US not global but I see a lot of Seiko, Citizen, TAG and Longines adverts here, so they would seem to have good value in my opinion, I am surprised any of the high end brands including AP, Breguet and PP spend anywhere near that amount as their buyers don't just stumble through advertising on those brands. Not to mention given their price points they can be very selective on where to advertise (ie financial journals etc). For a small company AP certainly have a number of high profile sports brand ambassadors.

[Scot_3]

Wow you've put some time into this, thanks it is neat to see the figures.
So if a company adds X as a percent to the cost of a unit of inventory. Could it then predict an increase in sales based on an increase percent per unit of inventory. Or is limiting production in the face of market demand, as a way of pushing up the cost per unit of inventory a more cost effective means for adding profit. Ummmmmm,

[wisguy]

Originally Posted by Scot_3

Wow you've put some time into this, thanks it is neat to see the figures.
So if a company adds X as a percent to the cost of a unit of inventory. Could it then predict an increase in sales based on an increase percent per unit of inventory. Or is limiting production in the face of market demand, as a way of pushing up the cost per unit of inventory a more cost effective means for adding profit. Ummmmmm,

I guess it depends on the brand, PP may want to maintain supply below demand to maintain exclusivity and raise prices. On the other hand Breitling could want to spend more in advertising and increase volume.

I read the entire 2013 Swatch group annual report yesterday and they do not disclose any figures by brand, only by category which makes it hard to arrive at any reasonable conclusions, same for the other brands.

And yeah, seems like I have a lot of time on my hands! I better get to work so I can afford all the watches I want...