Spring Studios

London

Elevating Breitling to a Billion Dollar Brand

Carving out a new space in Swiss fine watches

In 2017, under new management, Breitling partnered with Spring to reposition the brand.

THE CHALLENGE

Breitling had lost relevance and credibility, and in an ever crowded, conservative luxury watch market, dominated by heritage brands with an appetite for narratives to do with achievement. There was an opportunity to do things differently.

The brand has long had Purposeful Action at its heart, but its aviation narrative, choice of ambassadors, and outdated masculinity had narrowed relevance in a world that was increasingly inclusive.

To meet aggressive growth and sales targets, Spring knew that Breitling had to carve out a new space by re-igniting its core equity and infusing it with cultural relevance to drive desire.

Connecting Breitling to emerging culture

How could we reignite the core brand equity of Purposeful Action, and make it meaningful in today’s world?

CULTURAL & AUDIENCE INSIGHT

We started with culture. What did Purposeful Action look like today? How had it shifted? And how was that reflected around the world?

What we found was very clear: there had been a huge global cultural shift and the individualistic progress of the early 2010s had made way for a much more collective version.

Our cultural moment had shifted from ‘Me’ to ‘We’, with younger generations placing greater importance on collective activism for the common good.

STRATEGY

Breitling becomes a brand about doing, igniting purpose-driven change through team work and rediscovering the inherent sense of adventure int he brand’s DNA.

By activating teams of authentic icons, recognised as the best in the world at what they do, we created squads who collaborate together with a sense of purpose.

Reigniting core equity of purpose and action

Breitling were famous for innovation in particular the creation of the modern Chronograph, paving the way to the modern wrist watch.

As a brand with DNA in inventing watches as tools, these tools were employed by a raft of purpose-driven adventurers and professionals.

With Purposeful Action and Collective endeavour at the heart of the Breitling brand since inception, we had a springboard that would put us at the forefront of this cultural shift

Brand Platform

Squad on a Mission

Campaign launch with A-list talent

To drive immediate reappraisal of brand and and global recognition, we launched the Cinema Squad with Hollywood A-list Talent and a new watch line with unisex appeal – designed to shift the brand positioning, and instantly break the dated aviation and masculinity perceptions.

The omni-channel approach extended the distinctive new brand identity and communications through digital, social, OOH, in store, and experiential, setting the foundation of a lifestyle brand.

“Out went the salacious pin-up girls and the high carbon-emitting Breitling Jet Team, and in came a raft of new brand ambassadors, led by Hollywood A-listers Brad Pitt and Charlize Theron, organised in ‘Breitling Squads’ – a new take for the brand.”
Robin Swithinbank, Financial Times

Cultivating squads with engaged community

The campaign gained momentum, with individual Squad launches including the Surfer Squad, Explorer Squad and Triathlon Squad, followed by the first all female squad with dancer Misty Copeland and actresses Charlize Theron and Yao Chen.

Each new squad represented a newly redesigned watch collection and targeted a diverse audience engaged in these interests.

Highlighting our All Star Icons as embodiment of purposeful action

With a roster of global ambassadors, resonating around the world

We cast Daniel Wu and actor and social activist Yao Chen to join as global ambassadors.

The effort had a significant impact on driving appeal in China, and particularly with women, in both perception and purchase.

We have since built on it with subsequent campaigns, including an Asian Cinema squad with the new ambassadors Angelababy and Johnny Huang.

Campaigns were concepted with a China-first communications strategy to drive engagement and efficacy.

Multi-channel activations

Building a lifestyle & community that people want to be a part of

To deepen engagement with these communities, Spring created a Breitling book series – due for release in spring 24 – with expert contributors from our global network, published a renowned publisher .

The new positioning enabled the brand to successfully extend into new retail concepts: Breitling Townhouse and Kitchen, inviting customers to experience the new Breitling, reinforcing them as an inclusive, accessible luxury brand.

Reimagining the industry watch fair

To truly become an modern retailer and wholesaler, Breitling needed to change not just their consumer narrative, but how it approached trade shows.

Together, Spring and Breitling reimagined the traditional world of the watch fair, with the launch of the Breitling Summit. A physical and digital event that brought customers into direct conversation with Breitling.

'The Summit’ features new product launches as well as the deeper squad storytelling with ambassadors joining the CEO or interactive education around the brands history of innovation and craftsmanship. Reframing the trade show into an intimate experience that consistently entrenches the brands purpose through the sales process.

“I’ve sat through hundreds of presentations like this from multiple watch brands. I can tell you that this was honestly one of the best I have ever seen. It was super impactful!”
Michael Clerizo, Wall Street Journal

$4.5b valuation in 2023: From a £650m purchase value in 2017

40%: YoY sales

79%: have a more/much more positive image of Breitling

9th top Swiss watch brand: From 19th place in 2017

Building a Billion Dollar Brand

Breitling needed to re-invigorate the brand which had lost relevance and credibility. To meet aggressive growth targets Spring carved a new brand platform by igniting it's core equity of purposeful action and infusing this with cultural relevance to drive desire.