FabR[Senior Patek Moderator]
26166
Some good food for thought as usual Patrick, even if I'm pretty sure *nobody* here will confess, "Oh yes, these marketing tactics have been working really well on me!" ;-))
Oct 29, 2022,19:01 PM
I'm no communications/marketing expert, but I've always been pretty good at IQ tests, so this just looks like to me a current twist of the good old phenomenon of marketing.... Sadly, whether we like it or not, it's a fact of life that companies spend countless billions a year in advertisings *precisely* because they know that the right choice of words will manipulate others into buying their product. Telling you that a watch is rare when it's not, or making you feel the luckiest person on earth when you even have to wait for it, is really nothing new, at least conceptually.
It would be beyond the scope of a watch forum to discuss the "morality" of certain evident forms of manipulation, but we all know folks get paid handsome salaries in the marketing business to come up with the right slogans, or videos, or photos to sell the exact same product that yesterday wasn't selling. You see ads literally everywhere you look. I'm 100% certain that even the strongest, smartest, most knowledgeable, most handsome, etc. etc. of all humans is, to some degree, under the influence of marketing techniques --- In fact, those who believe they are totally immune to them, are the ones most in danger!
To anyone who buys a Nautilus or a sports Rolex at market price today, and tells me they are not influenced by marketing but really love the watch, I always respond: "Then why are you not a billionaire?"
These watches used to sit unsold *by the thousands* in AD windows up until year 2016, and while only top collectors today can qualify for the most in-demand pieces, *anyone* could have bought as many as they wanted (at a discount) back then!
Thanks as usual for a good, thought-provoking thread, I'm sure we'll see some great answers and different perspectives!
Cheers.