Company Overview
Founded: 1875
Founders: Jules Louis Audemars & Edward Auguste Piguet
Headquarters: Le Brassus, Vallée de Joux, Switzerland
Ownership: Family-owned (independent)
Industry: Swiss luxury watch manufacturing
Audemars Piguet makes nice mechanical watches. They are very expensive. Focus on making each watch by hand. The company does not make a lot of watches it only makes a few. Audemars Piguet likes to come up with interesting designs for mechanical watches rather than trying to sell a lot of watches to many people. Audemars Piguet is, about mechanical watches and it wants to keep making the best mechanical watches it can.
Industry Context and Market Position
The Swiss luxury watch industry is special because of some things.
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It has a lot of tradition
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The people who make these watches are very skilled
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They pay attention to every little detail when they make a Swiss luxury watch
The Swiss luxury watch industry is also famous, for making very good quality Swiss luxury watches.
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High entry barriers
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Strong heritage dependency
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Slow innovation cycles
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Extreme brand loyalty
Audemars Piguet is a company that likes to balance ways of doing things with new and exciting ideas. They do not just try to show off with their watches like some other companies do. Instead Audemars Piguet focuses on making beautiful and complicated watches that are hard to find. The brand is about Audemars Piguet being good at engineering and making things that are unique, to Audemars Piguet.
Mr.Sachin Chauhan
Senior Marketing Strategist & Retail Industry Expert
4:43 • Expert insights on Audemars Piguet marketing transformation
The Royal Oak: A Strategic Turning Point
In 1972 Audemars Piguet came out with the Royal Oak, a nice luxury sports watch made of stainless steel. This watch was designed by Gérald Genta. Then people mostly bought luxury watches made of gold. So when Audemars Piguet made the Royal Oak it was a risk for the company. The Royal Oak was different from luxury watches because it was made of stainless steel, not gold. Audemars Piguet took a chance with the Royal Oak. It was a pretty bold move, at the time.
Strategic impact:
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Redefined luxury materials
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Introduced integrated bracelet design
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Created a new category: luxury sports watches
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Established Audemars Piguet as a design leader
The Royal Oak was really important, for the brand. It helped the brand to keep growing over a period of time. The Royal Oak became the base of the brands plan to grow and do well in the future.
Competitive Advantage Analysis
Audemars Piguet has a something that keeps them ahead of the game and that is because of several things, about Audemars Piguet.
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Independence from luxury conglomerates
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Full in-house manufacturing capability
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Limited production preserving scarcity
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Strong design-led differentiation
This combination helps to keep the brand special. Prevents the brand from becoming like every other brand. The brand stays unique because of this combination and people do not see the brand as another product. This is good, for the brand.
Strategy During the Quartz Crisis
The Swiss watch industry went through a time when quartz watches came out but Audemars Piguet did not give up. Audemars Piguet kept making good mechanical watches. They did not try to be cheaper or use the technology like other brands. Audemars Piguet focused on making sure their watches were made well looked nice and were designed properly. This is what Audemars Piguet is, about. Audemars Piguet wants their watches to be special because of the work that goes into making them.
This plan to hold back really helped keep the brand real. Stopped it from losing its value over time. The brand authenticity was. The brand did not have long-term dilution. This was because of the restraint that was, in place to protect the brand.
Innovation Strategy
Audemars Piguet does things a little differently. They like to pick and choose when they want to try something with the Audemars Piguet watches. The people at Audemars Piguet are very careful, about what they do. Audemars Piguet only makes changes when they think it is really necessary.
High-complication movements
Skeletonized designs
Advanced materials such as ceramic and forged carbon
Experimental case constructions
People think of innovation as a way to make things better like art that changes over time than something that completely changes everything all at once. Innovation is more about making changes to make things better not about completely disrupting the way things are done. Innovation is a process that happens slowly, like when an artist tries things and makes their work a little different each time.
SWOT Analysis
- Iconic Royal Oak design
- Strong brand equity
- Vertical integration
- Family ownership ensuring long-term vision
- High margins due to exclusivity
- Expansion of direct-to-consumer boutiques
- High price sensitivity during economic downturns
- Limited scalability due to artisanal production
- Expansion of direct-to-consumer boutiques
- Growth in Asian luxury markets
- Collaboration with art, music, and culture
- Rising interest in mechanical craftsmanship
- Market volatility
- Counterfeit products
- Overexposure of flagship models
- Competitive pressure from conglomerate-backed brands
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Marketing and Brand Communication Strategy
The brand does not like to have famous people advertise for them. Instead the brand works with:
Contemporary artists
Musicians
Architects
Cultural innovators
This way Audemars Piguet is seen as a company that cares about culture and moving forward than just being about showing off wealth and status. Audemars Piguet is trying to be a brand that's modern and open, to new things, not just a luxury item that people buy to impress others. Audemars Piguet wants to be known for being culturally progressive
Digital storytelling is a lot of things. Digital storytelling focuses on telling stories with pictures and sounds. Digital storytelling also focuses on using computers and phones to make these stories.
- Making videos that people want to watch
- Creating stories that people can play with
Digital storytelling is really cool because it lets people be creative, with storytelling. People can make their digital storytelling projects and share them with others who like digital storytelling.
- Craftsmanship processes
- Independent spirit
- Creative expression
- Long-form visual narratives
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