Audemars Piguet

KIH
[Purist]
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3. Tim Sayler - Chief Marketing Officer

Mr. Tim Sayler was born in Munich, came to Switzerland to study at Saint-Gull University for the first time.  The he went on to study at HEC in Paris as well as New York University Stern School of Business.  Earned Master’s degree in Economics and Management.  He started his career at P & G in Geneva, and by 2004, he was responsible for the perfume products of various brands at Prestige Division.  He, then, joined Audemars Piguet as the Chief Marketing Officer in 2011.

KIH: Thank you very much for taking time to talk with me in this busiest week for you.  I have read your bio and you were in marketing, but in the entirely different area for a while.  What made you want and decide to move to the watch industry?

Tim Sayler (“TS”): Two things.  First of all, I love watches.  And secondly, living in Geneva, you can’t escape it.  You are so in the center of everything and it draws you in.  And I was extremely fortunate to be able to join Audemars Piguet because it is like going straight to the top in watchmaking, so I was very fortunate.

KIH: Okay, thanks for telling us of your background.  So, what is the theme this year?

TS: A couple of themes.  Well, THE theme is Audemars Piguet as always.  Why am I saying this?  Because we have a new booth.  I hope you like.  It’s a little bit bigger than in the past, but it looks very much different.  I am saying the theme is Audemars Piguet because this, we think, is really the perfect expression of Audemars Piguet.  We are talking about our origin, we are talking about history, we have watchmakers at the center, but everything looks very, very 21^st century.  Well, maybe even 23^rd century if you look at the spaceship over there (pointing at the “Acoustic Lab Chamber” at the corner of the booth – see a few threads below).  That is exactly what the DNA of the brand is, and that is one big theme.  And in general, we think this year the brand has really reached the “mile stone”, this booth is how really we want the brand to look, and the same goes for the boutiques as well.  The boutiques has the same concept, the same message, and the same way of communication.  So, we have reached now the “cruising altitude”, and everything is aligned and clear, we talk about what we want to talk about – that is the big theme.

We have two other themes – one is the Exceptional Concept Watch, a minute repeater, and another is women’s watches with several novelties.

Mr. Tayler checking my 5402ST with his new 15202.  (oops... the lady behind him is....!)

KIH: Do you have any plan, what to do next or what NOT to do?

TS: Yes.  This whole effort in the booth, for example, is one big result of what we want to do more of.  So, in general, as you have already seen, we are focusing more and more on the brand itself.  We have extremely fascinating stories IN the brand.  We have incredible craftsman IN-HOUSE.  We need to talk about that more and more, in comparison to having the external Partnership and Ambassadors.  I would say, there would be a continued focus on talking about the brand.  Also I believe the keyword is “continuity”.  We want to avoid “changing directions” too often.  We know exactly how we want to look, and we want to keep it fresh.  We don’t want to change the message every 5 minutes. 

I think we have the quite unique place in the horology space.  We are the only brand that has both the history, the mastery, and the tradition, but it really looks like we are from the 21^st century who speaks also to the new generation of collectors.  That makes us really unique.  There are lots of other brands with history and heritage, but they are stuck often in the past, in terms of how the brands speak and how the brands present itself.  So from that point of view, we have unique direction which we definitely want to pursue.

This whole topic of “tradition” and “innovation” – everybody says it.  And when it comes to products, boutiques, this booth, our events, they are much fresher and younger, much more dynamic, much more contemporary, much more “cool” horology brand, for the lack of better words, and that makes us very different.

KIH: Thank you very much.

TS: My pleasure.

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