$40m ad push for TAG Heuer

TAG Heuer is spending $40m (ú25m) on a worldwide campaign to position its watches as a more prestigious brand. With watches in its range priced as high as ú9,500, TAG Heuer’s latest advertising campaign aims to make its watches more elitist.

TAG Heuer is spending $40m (ú25m) on a worldwide campaign to position its watches as a more prestigious brand.

With watches in its range priced as high as ú9,500, TAG Heuer’s latest advertising campaign aims to make its watches more elitist. The company will continue to make cheaper watches, priced from ú200, but its marketing effort will concentrate on more expensive models, says managing director Neil Duckworth.

The ads, which will start in the UK on March 16, are an extension of BDDP’s “Don’t crack under pressure” campaign in 1989. The mono cinema and press ads feature sportsmen and the mental challenges they face. The campaign will be used in more than 40 countries.

The commercial features athletes apparently hurdling giant razor blades, jumping between two buildings on horseback and being chased by dogs on a race track. The target audience is ABC1 males. The tagline for the new campaign is: “Success. It’s a mind game.”

“This campaign is more about attitudes. The athletes are surpassing themselves. Sport is used as a metaphor for these values, whether they are in sport or business,” says BDDP account director Pierre Laurent.

More than 600,000 TAG Heuer watches were sold worldwide in 1994. However, the brand faces competition from luxury makes such as Rolex and grey imports being sold in the UK through the warehouse Costco.

Alongside the latest ads, TAG Heuer will act as timekeeper for the Olympic Games, the Formula One World Championship and the World Cup Skiing Events in the US.