Patek Philippe Marketing Strategy

Patek Philippe is a Luxury watch and accessory brand that is in the lifestyle and retail sector. Founded in 1839, the unique selling point of brand is that the watches have a high precision movement, are high quality, made with premium materials and handmade in Switzerland with Swiss movement. The watches are traditionally designed but have some of the most complicated mechanical movements in the world. Patek Philippe caters to the more sophisticated men and women with higher income. The key message of the brand is that the watches are extremely well made, beautiful and extremely durable.

Patek Philippe is an extremely well established brand that has been producing watches since 1839. The Stern family has been running the company since 1932

In this campaign, it centred around a tagline for men, “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely take care of it for the next generation.”. Patek Philippe has been using this campaign since 1996 and I will be elaborating on how the company’s branding has evolved over the years despite using the same campaign. The theme of the marketing campaign has stayed the same since 1996 since it was first launched. The iconic campaign has always been urging customers to “Begin your own tradition.” in the sense that buying a Patek Philippe is akin to buying a family heirloom that is passed down from generation to generation. This relates to the new slogan in the latest “Generation’s” video. The has the same theme as all the print ads that Patek Philippe has been releasing through the

The statement appeals to men from both individualistic and collectivistic cultures. This enables Patek Philippe to portray themselves positively to men from different cultures and they are more likely to like the brand as much as the watch. ‘Begin your own tradition’ can suggest that you are branching away from society and marching on your own path, separating yourself from society. According to Mclarney and Chung, 1999, this want for separatism makes the individual rationalise that the purchasing for the watch is not for his own personal conscious want for material possessions, but rather, is purchased for the benefit of the family. In collectivistic cultures, the needs of other are placed above oneself, according to Yeniyurt and Townsend, 2003. This will position Patek Philippe in a position that encourages men raised a collectivistic culture to want to purchase the watch to look after it for their son. Interestingly, the message will also appeal to men in an individualistic culture as it reinforces family traditions that are individualistic. Patek Philippe’s advertisements are targeted at men with high spending power that have status. This is how the brand presents itself so that the target audience will recognise, recall and resonate with the brand. Saying that ‘you never really own a Patek Philippe’ also helps the customer to decrease the chance the customer will feel