This was the tagline of one of the videos published by Swiss luxury watchmaker Roger Dubuis under its innovative #GoodbyeCuckoo; #HelloExtraordinary marketing campaign.
At around this time last year, the watch brand unveiled 30 films, each 50 seconds long showing various ways how o destroy 30 cuckoo clocks. The videos were posted on YouTube for over 30 days as a teaser to mark the countdown for Roger Dubuis’ main event for the year.
The videos, according to Alvaro Maggini, Creative Director, Roger Dubuis, in a YouTube video testimonial, is very important for the brand because it is a means of conveying emotion. “There is a lot of humour, there is a lot of mystery, there are a lot of references that call to mind Fritz Lang, which gives a bit of a surrealist side,” he said in a video testimonial.
So how do you destroy a cuckoo clock? In the video series, it was axed, set on fire, batted by a golf ball, submerged in water, blasted to smithereens, tied to a tree branch and chainsawed, bulldozed, microwaved.
Highlighting the concept “undoing the past to create the future,” the taglines for each video were more powerful and aligned to the concept. Take this one: “Crushed to pieces, rebuilt into a masterpiece.”
Alessandro Marcolin, Head of Media & Event, Roger Dubuis, said in an email interview, that the concept is about ripping apart established codes to better reinterpret them.
“Ring out the old, ring in the new.” This is the essence of what Roger Dubuis does in Haute-Horlogerie, a contemporary reinterpretation of this secular art, with a total respect of the traditions. It was also to celebrate the rebirth our Hommage collection, and announce our incredible booth at the Salon International de la Haute-Horlogerie (SIHH) fair: a giant cuckoo clock. Everything is linked and makes sense when you see it under this angle,” he explained.
Video, according to Marcolin, encapsulates a lot of messages and it is an impactful immersive visual medium. “People tend to read less and watch more videos, hence the trend towards video as marketing vehicle,” he said.
Roger Dubuis has an in-house creative center and the filmography and communication visuals – including the “GoodbyeCuckoo; #HelloExtraordinary” campaign – are created internally.
“We love to communicate with video, and we strive to be always innovators in this marketing channel,” Marconi said.
The videos became a YouTube case study because of the record low cost per view and has appeared in the “Limitless Creativity” film showcased at the YouTube Brandcast Paris last September. It was received an award in the “Brand Content” category at the Grand Prix Stratégies /Amaury Médias du Luxe 2014 in France.
Sequel: The Asian thrillers
In September last year, the #GoodbyeCuckoo campaign was back. Seven new videos were uploaded on Facebook as part of the countdown to the second edition of Asia’s finest Haute Horlogerie Watches & Wonders Exhibition held in Hong Kong.
The first video, entitled “Don’t mess with the Ming,” showed two swinging Ming vases crushing the Cuckoo clock. The second video, “Don’t tickle the dragon,” showed a dragon breathing fire to the Cuckoo. The other videos include a chef preparing a dimsum chopping the Cuckoo, while another was set on fire; the ashes used as an ink for calligraphy.
Marcolin said Facebook was already used during the first campaign. The company used twice the same set-up: Youtube, Facebook and video seeding in blogs (through Ebuzzing and Unruly).
“The first campaign had a record low cost per view, hence the Youtube case study, and the second campaign had a record low cost per action on Facebook,” he said. “But both campaigns performed extremely well on all three platforms.
Marcolin disclosed that the two campaigns reached around 1.2 million views among all the platforms and 200,000 actions (clicks, shares) if the the Watches and Wonders and SIHH campaigns were integrated.
In both campaigns, the target audience was a mix of opinion leaders in the world of fashion, design, creation and luxury/watch lovers. “The main objective was to create buzz around the presence of Roger Dubuis at the SIHH in Geneva and Watches and Wonders in Hong Kong, highlighting the differentiation of Roger Dubuis,” Marconi said. “We are an unconventional fine watchmaking brand and we communicate also in an unconventional manner.
Following these successes, the company is now broadcasting a new thrilling digital countdown for the SIHH 2015, dubbed “The Astral Gateway”.
Roger Dubuis has a strong presence in Asia and Marcolin said the company will continue to establish the brand through retail and communication, while it also develops other markets such as Middle-East or the Americas.
Video marketing on Facebook
According to Facebook, the number of video posts per person has increased 75 percent globally and 94 percent in the US over the past year. Globally, the amount of video from people and brands in News Feed has increased 3.6 times year-over-year.
In Hong Kong, more than 50 percent of people who come back to Facebook in Hong Kong watch a video every day. Meanwhile, a TNS survey of Facebook users in Hong Kong revealed that 42 percent have posted videos or links to videos.
“Facebook today is not just a social media platform. It is a mass media with over 4.5 million Hong Kongers accessing it monthly, and about 89 percent accessing via their mobile devices. Brands today can use Facebook to reach people they want to target anytime, any day,” said Anita Lam, Head of FMCG & Retail, Greater China at Facebook.
Business used to be personal, Lam added, but then the coming of media made brands less personal though it was wonderful for scaling brands.
“We are at the beginning of a big marketing shift. We now have the opportunity to do both – Facebook as a platform can help make marketing personal again,” she explained.
Improved video metrics will help you understand the success of each video, to help guide your content strategy on Facebook.
Metrics include: video views, unique video views, the average duration of the video view and audience retention. People will be able to see how many views your video on Facebook has received. Views will be shown on all public videos from people and Pages, to help people discover new, popular videos.
“The Cuckoo is Dead. Long Live the Cuckoo.”