IWC

[nt]

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I really like their more classic lines such as the Portugeiser and would really like to see IWC stick with them

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But I don't care, I love these ads. I think IWC was just trying to make a splash. I can't take seriously the notion that the brand really looks down on women, it's absurd. They were just making a joke. I think if anything the fact that these ads are obviously meant to be funny is in support of equality because these sexist ideas aren't taken seriously. Great campaign!

The last Swiss Canton to allow women to vote only did so in 1991

On a more serious note, you may be right in terms of their intention but I'm not completely sure everyone saw it like that...

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But then Appenzell always has been different

level of intelligence equals level of understanding humor
Knowing to take pun on your account not getting insulted by humor
is mark of intelligence
Humor is what divide us from animals
There is so much liberty and rights in this world no one is free anymore


I like those ads....there been plenty that made fun of men...so what!?
Cheers
D

The question is if IWC gained from or lost out as a result of the adds, or if they made no difference. If the former, than it was a sound business decision. If the latter two, well...

This is from a time that IWC motto was "Engineered For Men".



Today, they make smaller watches and also targets the ladies.

I don't think that was a great movement and I believe that this is prior Georges Kern took the helm.

Cheers,

Nilo

You do not think it was a sensible idea to decrease the size and go after ladies (not quite sure if that is what you meant)? If that was your statement, I agree since they really face an uphill battle and have few unique selling propositions when it comes to ladies watches.

That it was a sensible idea (to have ladies watches), based on my personal experience.

Since they released those watches, my wife got some and she is very happy with her IWC pieces.

Cheers,

Nilo

Good to hear your personal experience. Otherwise difficult to judge (unless one has access to company figures), as they seem always a bit lost in the Boutique display here. And judging by the amount of female to male models offered for sale on Chrono24 I would have thought the lady ones are - in the words of Moser & Cie - very rare

But do you own an IWC? Or would the adds not make a difference regarding your purchasing decision one way or another?

But traded it in for a more sophisticated watch

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But it gave me stress keeping it sound all of the time. I have our Planetary System to guard already and thats more than enough responsibility for me ;-)

At this stage the simpler watches work for me best, as I do not really bother putting the automatics on a winder and I only rotate a handful frequently enough to either manually keep them wound or that they do so themselves

My wife didn't take it too seriously, but she did mention that they were pretty crazy to be working on ads like that as women made a lot of decisions for their boyfriends and husbands when it came to making these purchases and a lot of deals would have fallen through just because of the ads. I don't know if that was the case, but I would imagine that it probably resulted in more negative than positive in that space but at the same time generating purchases for the men who just wanted to make a statement and didn't care what their better halves thought ;-)

More than half the people back in the day that I knew had an IWC were single

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Even if it had a positive effect, it wouldn't have boosted any sales because a humor can never be a decisive factor in purchasing a product.

However, in negative effect IWC could have lost potential customers or at least gave the brand a chauvinist image.

So when you consider gains and losses, it's definitely a bad move. Just my humble opinion

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I'm wondering if there are some light cultural differences at play here, too. Namely not sure they used the same advertising everywhere - they did in Switzerland and Germany but not sure about the rest. Not trying to brand German speakers more chauvinist but maybe they found it would be easier to stomach there...

Still agree with you that it most likely did not help sales so much (in the absence of seeing figures).