"Hublot Loves Football" a campaign that merges the world of football competition with the innovation of time
Author: Phuriwat Hirunrangsee | Photographer: Courtesy of Hublot and Somkiat Kangsdalwirun
Jul 10, 2024
"...Every sports competition assigns an official watch brand responsible for timekeeping. Hublot is a frequently spotted brand at football events, as they are partners in multiple football championships. Additionally, the 'Hublot Loves Football' campaign has collaborated with brand ambassadors and renowned artists to promote various competitions. During the UEFA Euro 2024 football tournament, Hublot set up a pop-up store in Siam Paragon, offering a one-of-a-kind football competition experience. On this occasion, #Legend_th had an opportunity to interview Ricardo Guadalupe regarding the campaign's background and Hublot's involvement in football competitions, which has made the brand truly captivating..."
What makes Hublot, and football so intrinsically connected via campaign 'Hublot Loves Football'?
Ricardo Guadalupe: "Yeah. Football is really our main partnership in Hublot. And it's a partnership that started a long time ago, 16 years ago in the year 2008, we entered the football world because we saw an opportunity to be the first luxury watch brand to have a partnership with football. As you know, tennis, there are other brands, golf, other brands, but football is really Hublot.
Until today, there are fifth Euro Cup that we have done in Germany, and we also have a FIFA partnership with the World Cup. The main idea of 'Hublot Loves Football' came in 2014 during the Brazil World Cup, where we said we needed this motto to really promote this partnership. In the year 2014, we also had the change of the referee board, which became like the shape of the watch. You know, the consumer can link Hublot to the world of watch, which benefit the brand as we have been able to make Hublot known all over the world to billions of people. Of course, not all of those billions of people able to afford a Hublot watch, but the goal of doing this is to increase brand awareness and make people aware of Hublot's existence.
Every time we have a concept, Hublot Loves Football in 2014 was with Pelé. And this year, Kylian Mbappé is the face of the campaign. And in Qatar, it was a bit different, every time we try to change, we work with an artist to create the campaign, to make it truly outstanding. The campaign remains Hublot Loves Football, but with a different ambassador, different graphic, and different design."
Which of the Hublot Loves Football campaigns was the most successful?
RG: "I would say Qatar, the Qatar campaign, because atthat time, we had collaborated with many friends of the brand. You know, we had women, also football women like Ada Hegerberg, who is a Norwegian woman. We had Pelé, we had Kylian Mbappé, and we had Garrett Southgate. The Hublot Loves Football campaign was a beautiful initiative where everyone got to design a football alongside artists. I truly think it was an amazing campaign."
Since HUBLOT entered a collaboration with football tournament and some teams to develop several of official timekeepers, it has had an impact on the visibility of the brand. What is another strategy?
RG: "I would say Hublot loves Football is really our main pillar in a partnership, because this partnership is considered as an important investment of the brand, Apart from this, we create the universe of Hublot. You have other universes, like art, Hublot also the brand that loves and appreciated art, in which we had Murakami, for instance, and more recently, Daniel Arsham, Sang Bleu, a tattoo artist.
Hublot loves gastronomy. With chefs, you know, even it might less important compared to others, but it's part of the world of Hublot. Hublot also loves music, you know, with Lang Lang, the pianist, we have Depeche Modi and DJ Snake, for instance. We create what we call the universe of Hublot. Of course, football is most important, but then we have other worlds. For our consumer, you know, he wants to be part of this world, because sometimes he wants to go to see music, sometimes he goes to have a nice Michelin-starred restaurant, and sometimes he's going to watch football. The idea is to create a universe in which our community, the Hublot community of consumers, and we hope the new ones want to come to this world. You know, that's the idea."
How does Hublot optimise its product strategy with the ever-changing interest of consumers?
RG: "You know, our concept, the art of fusion, is what makes Hublot different from other watch brands. Because if we are not different, we cannot success or stay true in the realm, you know, because you have traditional watch brands in Switzerland that are fabulous and have an incredible history. Hublot, we're a young brand, so we must try to be different and to offer watches that are not more or less existing in traditional watch brands. And how can we do it? Through the art of fusion, we bring innovation, creativity, and disruption to our products, like with materials. We've been the first brand to come with a rubber strap. That was a long time ago, like, 40 years ago. And today, rubber straps are used by all those traditional brands. Additionally, we incorporate ceramics, such as entirely black ceramic watch cases and straps, as well as the use of sapphire in our watch designs. Our transparent sapphire watch cases are unique, and we are the only brand that can truly produce these clear sapphire watch cases. Moreover, we innovate with mechanical watches, creating complex mechanisms that are considered masterpieces.
In terms of design, we always draw inspiration from art. When the brand collaborated with Murakami, it resulted in a surreal design without a traditional watch face or numbers. You might either love it or hate it, but if you love it, you'll fall in love deeply. We once created a pocket watch with artist Arsham. Can you imagine designing a pocket watch? We reimagined it by creating the case out of sapphire. All these concepts make Hublot pieces stand out. Of course, in the end, we might sell more traditional watches, but our designs always incorporate an artistic element.
I think we cannot produce the very unique 100 watch designs, but this helps to make what Hublot is about aspirational. And at the end, people also come to a classic fusion watch, which is our business. With a normal watch, nobody is really interested."
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How is Hublot's involvement with football players helping the company reach its goals?
RG: "I think football players are influencers of other people. And when we have Kylian Mbappé, it influences a lot of millions of young generations. And when they see that Kylian Mbappé is associated with Hublot, we believe that these young generations say, Wow, that's great. It's a cool brand. The idea is really to be able, through those ambassadors, to talk to other people and to attract people to our brand. And then we have Kylian Mbappé as the number one ambassador. Once we have friends of the brands that represent the Hublot family, so they are more dedicated to local, let's say, the Euro. For instance, we have a German legend player, Sami Khedira. He's more focused in Germany. For Portugal, we have Luis Figo, and for Spain and others, every time we try to have different friends of the brands to be able to help us, Also locally, I would say."
As Hublot was established, like more than 44 years. So, what principle or value does Hublot continue to emphasize this day?
RG: You know, to keep, to have success, we must innovate all the time. Being a leader in innovation is not easy, you know, because other brands also try to innovate, we're not the only one. So, there are many competitors out there, that's why we invest a lot in research and development. Also, you know, we have a big factory, a lot of research in materials, a lot of research in design, a lot of research in movements, and in new concepts. For us, the key element is nothing but the real and great innovation.
As Richardo mentioned, innovation lies at the heart of Hublot watches. It's impossible to look away from the captivating beauty of the Hublot Big Bang Unico watch he is wearing.
