Panerai has announced a brand ambassador for the Indian market – ace cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dhoni has been a collector of Panerai watches years before the maestro was approached to officially represent the Italian watch brand.
Panerai has been selling its watches in India for nearly a decade. To stimulate the brand’s visibility, the Italian watch maker has swiftly launched two dedicated stores in India within 6 months! Panerai now hosts 3 branded boutiques in India. During his introductory visit to India as the newly appointed CEO of Panerai, we spoke with Jean Marc Pontroue about Panerai’s new brand ambassador and the challenge of wooing millennials to invest in mechanical watches.
Luxuryvolt: The Mumbai Palladium mall boutique is your third installation in India. Would it be right to infer that India is emerging as an important market in Asia for Panerai?
Pontroue: India is not yet a very important market. Firstly it is challenging to explain what is an important market. Is it important because of the local people or because of the tourists coming into that market or country? If you take Paris, it is a very important city for most of the luxury brands but 80% of the business is made with tourists! When we choose our cities where we operate it has always the local potential, plus the interest for tourists. We bet on Mumbai as well as Delhi and more cities in the future in India because we strongly believe that in the coming 5 years, India will become one of the top 5 countries for our brand. We see this today because Indians already travel and buy our products in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Paris and Singapore.
Luxuryvolt: With you at helm of affairs at Panerai, what are your top targets to achieve?
Pontroue: The beauty of a brand which has 740 people is that it can be a very strong asset or a very bad asset. So how are you going to transform that into a very strong asset? Also, how to make an iconic brand not only iconic but also hot. If I am able to do that, then I will be very happy.
Building distribution is important. Why do we bet on India? Because we believe that the maturity of the country is still growing. If you are one of the prime brands here, then you will benefit more than other brands who will think about India in 5 or 10 years. One has to take these bets when building brand. Now will the watches at SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, Geneva watch fair) be a flop or success? What decides your success is how many people are wearing your watch or not. I don’t care about anything else.
Luxuryvolt: Panerai will launch next bunch of novelty watches in Geneva at SIHH 2019, one of the most important watch shows in the world. What should Panerai collectors expect?
Pontroue: It will be the year of Panerai Submersible watches. It will be the first year where we take Panerai Submersible watches as a dedicated line. We currently have two lines of products, Radiomir and Luminor. In the future we will have four different segments with assortment of watches. To give you an example, ‘Radiomir’ will be the line which tells all the historical background of Panerai. If you want a vintage model it will be a Radiomir. No more ceramic in Radiomir, it will be pure steel and red gold. The ‘Luminor’ line is what is an icon of Panerai. They are hundred percent made with Italian flair. The ‘Due’ collection is a tool to acquire new customers, women or men. People who are not willing to wear bold and big watches but love the style, spirit and values of Panerai. Plus it allows us to make precious metal. Because when you do gold on a smaller model, the price is cheaper than doing precious metal on bigger pieces. Then we have the Submersible. It is a divers watch with pieces well researched and developed by our laboratories.
Luxuryvolt: Any special pieces to expect from SIHH watch fair in Geneva?
Pontroue: We will have new materials, new size models and there will be newer experiences. In the future, Panerai should be a brand that comes with product innovation as well as customer experience innovations. If we want to talk about Panerai in the world of diving we have to explain and prove it. The best way is to catch you and bring you in some of the destinations where you will enjoy the Panerai way of life.
Luxuryvolt: You were heading Roger Dubuis watch brand before Panerai. Both are very different brands. Compared to Panerai, Roger Dubuis is a much younger brand. How do you plan to make Panerai a cool brand while preserving its historic and iconic value?
Pontroue: When you start with a brand it is most important to see what is a brand vibrating for. Does it vibrate for higher prices or higher complications or new materials? Panerai is not so different from Roger Dubuis. It is masculine and bold brand. It is less expensive than Roger Dubuis. It is not into motor sport but it is in super yachting business.
The history of the brand should not be an obstacle. It’s a source of inspiration for the future. What we will highlight in Panerai is the Laboratory-ID approach. The approach in Panerai has always been the new material approach. New materials like Carbotech, the Bronzo & the BMG (Bulk Metallic Glass technology denotes a metallic glass that is stronger and lighter than Steel). Watches with these materials get sold even before we launch them! We already have deposit for 1000 BMG watches worldwide and they are expensive watches.
Luxuryvolt: You are taking charge of office from Angelo Bonati who was the CEO of Panerai for over 20 years! His contribution to the brand has been extraordinary. What are your learnings from his experience?
Pontroue: Bonati has made Panerai! We wouldn’t be sitting here talking about the brand if he would not have done what he has done in over 20 years. It is always very easy to criticize your predecessor, not quick enough, not making watches cheap enough or expensive enough. However, the brand today is among the top 20 brands in the world among 700 operators. The brand was non existent 22 years ago.
Luxuryvolt: How do you propose to promote the brand among millennial and the young watch collectors?
Pontroue: Attracting new generation in India, middle east is priority number one. I have two kids one is 21 and 24. They get all their information on social media. I would not be surprised if they told me they have not spend a single euro on a newspaper. If I ask them how long were they on the internet to search for watches, they will say half to two hours. Then when I have to decide how to target the next generation, should I advertise in newspapers or internet. The answer you already know. This also varies from one country to another. The young generation is one the key priority.
Luxuryvolt: Not many Swiss watch makers are using e-commerce to sell watches. How will Panerai use online medium to reach more audience?
Pontroue: We have already started e-commerce in US, Europe. We will start in China soon. We will encourage e-commerce for people who are not close to a brand store. The group is investing a lot in e-commerce business. We will also come out online exclusive models. We want to develop a product offer which is very exclusive to online.
Luxuryvolt: What are the top 5 watches in your wardrobe?
Pontroue: I have many Panerai watches. I do use the Apple watch for running. This is my daily companion. Is it elegant? No! I do not enjoy touching the product but I do enjoy touching my Panerai watch. When I see the Submersible BMG I feel good. I also have the Patek Philippe Nautilus, from Audemars Piguet I have the Royal Oak and a limited edition Richard Mille, Roger Dubuis watches too. I like watches that have something to say like when you wear a Panerai carbotech watch, it is a statement maker.
Luxuryvolt: Roger Dubuis is popular for its partnership with Lamborghini. Will you bring in a celebrated brand as such for collaboration with Panerai?
Pontroue: First do we plan to have partnerships? Answer is yes. I believe in partnerships that make sense and where there is a love story. If you do partnerships for money it never works. It requires a lot of personal interest and involvement. No one cares about a contract. The beauty about the Panerai brand is that we already have a lot of celebrities wearing our products. Here in India, MS Dhoni is our new ambassador. He will be associated with the brand for the next two years. He represents with his profile what the brand stands for; sports, gentleman, style. He has known Panerai before most of us in this room have worked for the brand. He can speak about the brand without any briefing from us. He is already very passionate about the brand. That is what should be the definition of who should be a brand ambassador for Panerai.
