Accurist Case Study
Challenge:
Accurist, a long-established mid-market watch brand with a traditional image, launched a new fashion range last year under the Accu.2 brand. With the strap line ‘A bit of bling…’ the watches were decorated with Swarowski crystal, specifically targeted at 18-30 year olds as the perfect party watch and priced at between £75 and £95.
K+R was briefed to launch the second wave of Accu.2 watches, which broke the £100 barrier and were therefore more focused on high fashion than trash-ion.
Strategy:
The pricing of the watch range made it in danger of falling between two stools: high street fashion retailers sell bling watches at a starting price of £30, while magazines focusing on more expensive watches are more receptive to the designer names of Gucci and Cartier. It was therefore essential to make Accu.2 desirable - and tongue-in-cheek quirky – to capture media attention
Tactics:
K+R developed a four-pronged strategy over a three-month campaign: approaching celebrities to wear and be photographed in the watches; desk visits to fashion correspondents to develop coverage in tandem with their own forward feature ideas; develop a ‘cult’ around a series of off-beat press releases which reflected the personality of the brand, and stimulated media ideas for coverage by linking the range with summer fashion trends; and publicise the ad campaign, which controversially featured a barely-clad model
Results:
From a standing start, K+R achieved coverage with a reach of 27 million within 12 weeks. Ten pop and TV celebrities including Myleene Klass, Beverley Knight, Amanda Holden, Lisa Snowden and The GMTV team of Lorraine Kelly, Kate Garraway and Claire Nasir, all agreed to wear and be photographed in the watches.
