Ecomdigest Watches Newsletter - 10.17.2024

PLUS: Longines debuts vibrant dials in its Flagship Heritage Moonphase collection.

Author

Sophie Bruxner-Randall
October 17, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Ad Week New York 🎤

ADVERTISING INSIGHTS
Advertising Week NYC Recap

💡 Balancing Fame and Flow in a Post-Privacy Landscape, by Sam Carter, CEO of Fospha.

AdWeek NYC 2024 was packed full of fresh ideas and powerful reminders of evergreen principles. From navigating privacy challenges to ensuring sustainable brand growth, here are my key takeaways that all brands should be implementing:

  1. Balance Fame and Flow: Brands that focus too much on short-term conversions and neglect long-term brand-building efforts fall into the ‘doom loop’, converting only existing demand without generating new demand. Eventually the convertible audience is exhausted, efficiency plummets, and the brand finds itself in trouble. To avoid this, brands need to strike the right balance between conversion and long-term brand awareness to sustain growth.

  2. Go Full-Funnel for Measurement: To balance short and long-term goals of conversion and brand awareness, marketing teams need to be able to measure the impact of both. Last Click attribution chronically undervalues awareness activities, so brands should opt instead for measurement tools that use a full-funnel methodology.

  3. Privacy-Proof Your Tech Stack: With third-party cookies deprecation and new privacy regulations cropping up regularly, brands need to accept the death of user-level data and embrace privacy-centric solutions to future-proof their measurement. 

Read the full article here. 

Hot in D2C eCommerce 🔥

AI POWERS PRIME
Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2024 Breaks Records with AI and Innovation (top links below 👇)

Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days 2024 made history with the largest October shopping event ever, saving Prime members over $1 billion globally. This year’s event highlighted Amazon’s cutting-edge AI tools, including its AI assistant, Rufus, and drove massive sales across electronics, toys, and apparel. Top brands like Apple and Dyson offered unbeatable deals, setting the stage for a promising holiday shopping season.

Momentum Commerce reported a 41% sales increase on Day 1, with brands like Crocs and Lego leading the charge, while regions like Canada and Europe saw notable growth despite weather impacts affecting the U.S. Competitors Target and Walmart also launched early sales events, but Amazon's use of innovative shopping tools and AI set it apart in an increasingly competitive market.

For deeper insights into this record-breaking event, explore these key sources:

Latest in Luxury Watches ⏱️

Bulgari and Fender celebrate the Stratocaster's 70th anniversary with a limited edition watch. The Aluminium GMT x Fender features a sunburst pattern, luminescent details, and a self-winding movement. Its aluminum case and rubber strap reflect the iconic guitar's legacy, inviting you to embrace timeless music-inspired style.

The Longines Flagship Heritage Moonphase now offers vibrant dial colors like Havana beige, anthracite, and green, enhancing its retro-modern appeal. This model blends vintage charm with modern features, including a solid 18k gold medallion on the back, depicting a caravel on a blue sea of grand feu enamel.

With a stainless steel case measuring 38.5 mm in diameter and 12.4 mm in thickness, the watch maintains a compact yet stylish design. It features a moon phase and date complication in a single sub-dial, powered by the upgraded L899.5 movement, offering a 72-hour power reserve. Priced at $3,050, it represents good value for its craftsmanship and top-of-the-line ETA movement. Available now at Longines boutiques and retailers.

Prices for used luxury watches are stabilizing, with a modest rise in September, led by Patek Philippe. The Bloomberg Subdial Watch Index shows a 0.1% increase, driven by the Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711, which saw a 2% price rise. This trend follows the first US Federal Reserve rate cut in over four years, highlighting the inverse relationship between watch prices and interest rates.

While Patek Philippe models showed the strongest gains, Tudor watches also rose by over 0.8%. However, prices for Rolex, Breitling, Cartier, and Audemars Piguet remained flat or slightly lower. Notably, the Rolex GMT-Master II "Pepsi" and the black-dial Rolex Daytona saw a 1% price drop, though the "Pepsi" is up 4% over the year.

The article highlights a trend towards classic, minimalist men's watches, moving away from tech-heavy designs. Brands like Parmigiani, Patek Philippe, and Louis Vuitton are embracing elegant simplicity. This shift reflects a growing consumer interest in dress watches, with searches for such styles significantly increasing, indicating a return to timeless elegance.

Vacheron Constantin celebrates 20 years of its Patrimony line with a limited edition designed by Ora Ito. The Patrimony Self-Winding Ora Ito features a complex yet simple design, with a detailed dial and gold elements. Priced at $35,300, only 100 pieces are available, showcasing exceptional craftsmanship and value.

Jaeger-LeCoultre, a Swiss luxury watchmaker, introduces three exclusive fragrances as part of its Made of Makers program. Crafted by perfumer Nicolas Bonneville, these scents reflect the brand's values and are gifts for clients. Each fragrance embodies creativity and precision, paralleling the art of watchmaking

Performance Platters 🍽️

Microsoft is transitioning from its retail media platform, PromoteIQ, to a partnership with Criteo. This shift reflects the evolving retail media landscape, emphasizing the need for adaptable strategies. While PromoteIQ's closure isn't officially announced, the move highlights the importance of resilient, owned architectures in the dynamic ad tech industry.

Amazon's Amelia AI, currently in Beta, aims to assist sellers with insights and advice. While it simplifies tasks for new users, its potential lies in evolving features like competitive analysis and content optimization. Amelia is promising, but its future impact on Amazon sellers remains to be seen.

Advertising Week New York highlighted three key trends: the scarcity of third-party data, the rise of the creator economy, and the pressure on marketers to prove ROI. Brands must leverage first-party data, embrace TikTok'spotential, and focus on measurable outcomes to succeed in this evolving landscape.

Ecomdigest is a Contentive publication in the DTC Ecommerce division