Monday Morning Bonus: Swatch did something insane this weekend


Reader

Here's your Monday Morning Bonus:

This weekend, Swatch released a $400 watch with luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet.

And people lost their damn minds camping outside stores for days.

Riots in Paris.
Chaos in Mumbai.
Police in Times Square.
Nineteen U.S. stores shut down to avoid mayhem.

All for a plastic watch. That’s the obvious story.

The Real Story:

Swatch understood something most brands miss:

People weren’t buying a watch.

They were buying access to luxury culture they normally couldn’t touch.

The original Omega Speedmaster can cost thousands.
The Audemars Piguet-inspired hype around luxury watches? Tens of thousands.

Swatch turned exclusivity into participation.

In-store only.
One per customer.
No online checkout.

The line became the advertisement.

And the crowd became social proof.

Your 5-minute assignment:

Ask yourself:

“What part of your brand can you turn into a 'can't miss' event?”

To nail this, answer this first: What are customers REALLY buying from us besides the product?

Status?
Identity?
Belonging?
A story worth telling?

Remember:
Products get compared.
Identity gets defended.


Have an amazing Monday,
David Brier
Making boring brands extinct

P.S. Most brands optimize for convenience.
The unforgettable ones optimize for obsession.—

The Saturday email your competitors hope you never find. (One coffee. Zero fluff.)

I'm David Brier—the guy CEOs call when they've burned so much cash on marketing, their spouses think they have a coke habit. I'm like rehab for your brand, except instead of getting you clean, I get you profitable. Think of me as the Betty Ford Clinic of branding, but with better ROI and no group hugs. (Explains why I wrote the bestseller Brand Intervention that Daymond John calls "Genius.")

Read more from The Saturday email your competitors hope you never find. (One coffee. Zero fluff.)

Issue #151 Reader The curly hair market is barreling toward $5.6 billion. We told them to stuff it. Shelves are packed with the same three promises: definition, moisture, frizz control. Every brand riffing on the same tired script, having a pissing contest over who's the shiniest. A color technician with 40 years of working knowledge came to me with a business getting swallowed by the noise. I flipped her business model on its head. Curly hair and all. Instead of joining the circus, we...

Issue #150 Reader McDonald's showed up with a billboard that had no logo, no slogan, and cowboys wearing French fry fringe. One image. Three seconds of looking. Instantly, my popular "12 Best Billboard Ads of All Time" article was suddenly one fry short of a Happy Meal. ;-( Western jackets stitched in McDonald's red and yellow. Belt buckles hiding Big Macs. Leather strips that, when you look twice, are golden fries. No headline explaining the benefit. No copy telling you what to feel. The ad...

Reader Here's your Monday Morning Bonus: Most brands measure outcomes. Very few measure confusion. And confusion is usually where the money is leaking. A client I rebranded in the haircare space recently showed me their Shopify numbers: → Up 39% year over year→ Up 120% in the last 30 days→ Up 239% in the last 7 days But those numbers aren't the story (neither is this photograph). Disclaimer: None of their haircare products were used in this photograph. The story is this: Before the rebrand,...