IWC

(ROLE)

Tech Delivery Lead at AKQA for IWC's AR global immersive experience.

Augmented Reality Drives Highest Engagement Ever for IWC's Global Luxury Watch Collection Launch

IWC Schaffhausen has a reputation as one of the most progressive Swiss watch brands in the luxury market. Because of the worldwide spread of the COVID-19 pandemic The Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) decided to held virtually the event of the international watch and jewelry industry, the Watches & Wonders 2020. IWC Schaffhausen approached AKQA with one concern: how might we make a splash with the 2020 Portugieser collection of watches, without a physical event?

IWC's Immersive AR Global Launch of the Portugieser Collection

AKQA and IWC collaboratively showcased the 2020 Portugieser collection globally. Utilizing emerging technologies, we orchestrated a virtual launch via web and WeChat. This allowed watch enthusiasts, retailers, and journalists worldwide to experience the new watches and connect directly with the brand.

The Portugieser AR microsite presented IWC personalities introducing new watches, allowing the audience to view realistic 3D or Augmented Reality representations while watching videos. The aim was to streamline the product discovery process, sparking imagination and enhancing the pre-purchase experience by engaging with IWC watches. Users could purchase watches through deep links to IWC.com and contact a sales representative for their market.

AR & WeChat Campaign Drives Highest Engagement Ever

IWC's AR/VR immersive experience saw the highest engagement of any campaign IWC have ever had until that date.

That sense of volume and the playful way in which the customer can enlarge, rotate and view every angle of the piece makes for a compelling, engaging and surprising experience helped them in their customer journey.

All participants expressed interest in the augmented reality experience, wanting deeper insight into the brand and products directly from IWC’s experts and personalities. Overall IWC consumers reacted positively to each element of the Portugieser 2020 digital launch site concept.

“Apart from the very practical aspects of understanding the physical attributes of our watches, this combination of AR/VR & Video, that we like to call “Augmented Horlogerie”, is a fascinating way to help communicate the core essence of the emotional world that our products live within. This is one of the most fundamental opportunities offered by our Augmented Horlogerie experience , to transport our customers into the highly emotional and evocative universe of the collection and all that it represents”.

—

Dominic Weir,

Chief Digital Officer,

IWC