Experiencing The Charming World of Audemars Piguet

Experiential marketing is a growing practice in the luxury brands’ experience package and it mainly aims at elevating the brand's existence and its material products to a higher level of meaningfulness, especially since digital solutions have begun taking a major spot in everyday life. Such marketing experience was perfectly embodied in the virtual tour of the Audemars Piguet Museum located in Vallée de Joux and that provided the opportunity to “feel” the museum even if not on-site physically.

Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet (exterior)

To better describe the tour, we can begin by identifying what elements of the experience are represented by the so-called “pleasure dimensions”:

Sensory pleasure (vision, sound, touch, taste, smell) — being guided around the AP museum, one can experience the spirit of the AP brand. The viewer can see various pictures, watches, precious stones, and the environment itself. It can hear the sound of the watch ticking and the footsteps of the guide. On the other hand, it can imagine the touch of watches and their pieces inside and the smell of the air. Overall, the sensory pleasure was exquisite and the viewer feels like it is being embodied by the guide.

Affective pleasure (feelings, emotions) — there are strong positive feelings and emotions involved during this visit since the viewer imagines him/herself as a watch connoisseur. The viewer is curious to learn more and also very passionate about what is being presented. 

Intellectual (cognition, imagination) — the viewer imagines how the watches are made and how they have evolved in history. He/she also dreams about how the brand was established and what is in the mind of the artisan while assembling the watch.

Social pleasure (interaction, community) — the viewer feels deeply involved in the Audemars Piguet world thanks to the presenter that directly explains the company’s story and values and allows the viewer to feel he/she belongs to their community and environment somehow. It is a feeling that simply gathering information about the watchmaker’s world online cannot provide.

Musée Atelier Audemars Piguet (interior)

It was brought successfully since one could feel an intimate relationship with the brand through learning about its history. Indeed, AP aims at pursuing a deep connection with its customers that can place them on an intimate level with the company and the pleasure dimensions that come alive throughout the virtual tour are perfectly capable of delivering this message. Also, the artisanal aspect of the brand was vastly pointed out and the viewer felt like it entered the mind of the watchmaker. Seeing the family tree, the viewer felt like it was part of it. The viewer was deeply attracted to the brand and felt like it owned a watch for him/herself.

Beginning from this already involving and emotional virtual experience, several additions and improvements can be considered in order to elevate their sensorial adventure. First of all, the increasing interest in new technologies can inspire the involvement of 3D animations and recreations of the watches. This means that the watch is virtually shown while composing and decomposing it, which helps the viewer to better see and understand what are all the elements that are used in the making of the product. Moreover, the composition of the watch can be paired up with a brief description of the element or material used that could appear once the viewer clicks on them.

References:

B. Schmitt. (2020). Research Handbook of Luxury Branding (Chapter 10).

https://moodle.unil.ch/pluginfile.php/1690018/mod_resource/content/1/RHLB_Chapter%2010.pdf