Audemars Piguet celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, the Swiss watchmaker “Born in Le Brassus” is unveiling, in addition to its new 11.59 model, a new way of thinking about the perpetual calendar, as well as a communication campaign in line with its DNA of innovation, tradition and that little humorous twist that makes all the difference.
“The Beat Goes On”
Much more than a jazz standard by Buddy Rich or an original song by Sonny & Cher, this is the name of the latest communication campaign that Audemars Piguet has chosen to celebrate 150 years of creations and avant-garde ideas in style. A name, moreover, rooted in its core business.
For this event, the brand is banking on a 360° campaign that showcases its heritage branding in an exemplary manner and combines posters, print, video and social networks, all accompanied by a new dynamic perpetual calendar, the 7138 caliber and a digital anniversary exhibition, The House of Wonders.
A time in motion
In its 150th anniversary campaign entitled “The Beat Goes On”, Audemars Piguet presents an image of the company that is both innovative and dreamlike. The photograph is by Campbell Addy, while the video is the work of Henry Scofield.
The Manufacture appears here in the playful form of a pop-up book, those children’s books that take shape with every turn of the page. Audemars Piguet seeks here to show that it is above all a “family” and to show that it has nothing to hide with a doll’s house where the viewer can, thanks to cross-sectional shots, lose nothing of its entire creative process. The whole using miniatures seems to have an obvious relationship with the whimsical worlds interwoven with realityof film directors Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch…) or Tim Burton (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands…). Unless it’s Tatsuya Tanaka, the Japanese photographer well known on social networks for his miniature characters humorously confronted with XXL versions of everyday objects.
The codes of the mountain pastures are very much present, with a chamois perched on the roof of the Manufacture here, a cow grazing peacefully there, all with green mountain pastures with mountains and coniferous forests as far as the eye can see.
The campaign thus alternates between mountainous landscapes, iconic watchmaking models and places of interest in the history of the company, including the museum with its spiral tumulus.
Time flying by appears to be the common thread of this anniversary campaign. The Swiss manufacturer, founded in 1875 by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet, presents a peaceful, even tamed vision of time, but one that is no less valiant. With humor on social networks as in its video campaign, the watchmaker emphasizes the exceptional character of its environment: Le Brassus, in the Joux Valley, cradle of fine watchmaking. A place as inspiring as it is inhospitable at first glance, emphasizing the equally “wild and stubborn” character of its villagers and its surrounding landscape.
A time that, like its core business – fine watchmaking – sets a rhythm, a cadence, even literally a beat. This time in motion is manifested here by a boardwalk, integrated into the landscape and leading individuals from the icy regions of the 13th century to the museum of Le Brassus and its green roof.
In its express video odyssey, the House takes care to recall its anchoring to its humble mountain roots, its bias for the long term, watchmaking precision (notably via the humorous countdown of the Audemars Piguet life cycle, i.e. 4,738,000,000 seconds).
In conclusion, in the video, the company emphasizes its mission – to search beyond the ordinary – as well as its sustainable development. “A century and a half later, we are still this village, we are still these villagers”.
From the Earth to the Moon
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Read also > Audemars Piguet celebrates its 150th anniversary with an exceptional watch
Featured photo: © Campbell Addy/Audemars Piguet
