Baselworld too little, much too late
Twenty-Four hours at Baselworld and the only positive thing I’ve heard about this year's watch and jewellery show is that “it’s much quieter so it’s easier to get around”. The “at least you can get a seat in an empty bar” justification is not going to save this show. This feels so terminal you just want to avert your gaze.
This is my tenth, consecutive Baselworld. I’ve been here on both the brand and retailer sides of the equation and as a watch enthusiast. I managed everything I wanted to do in less than 24 hours.
In the photograph I’ve taken to accompany this article you’ll see a very bucolic, tree-lined avenue - it looks splendid but it actually replaces a lot of the brand stands which were ripped out when the Swatch Group called time (sorry !) on Baselworld as a place to do business - now they hold meetings concurrently in Zurich, an altogether more agreeable Swiss city (sorry Basel).
For decades Baselworld was a mandatory event in the global watch and jewellery calendar - new brands would beg, borrow and steal to appear, such was the validation Baselworld imprinted on a nascent enterprise.
But today brands are more fleet of foot - a networked world, both in terms of flying for face to face meetings and the digital engagement that allows virtual participation between a brand and a customer has made the coming together of an industry once a year less relevant.
Those orderbooks have already been prepopulated on a regional basis so all that is left to do is the precise choreography of meeting, coffee, chocolate and gift exchange. No one has time for that anymore.
Baselworld is not alone here but it has been painfully slow to respond to the voices that got louder and louder over the last five years calling for a radical shake up, halving the duration from ten to five days only helped so much. This week we have less brands, less people and a whole lot less relevancy.
To be fair there are now more onsite eating options and more corners to sit and meet but this is tinkering and also required to fill the obvious gaps.
It feels like too little, too late when they should have;
- introduced much more programmed thought leadership
- created more interaction opportunities outwith the individual brand environments
- introduce a genuine B-C concept to embrace the enthusiast rather than let them in but exclude them from brands
Next year Baselworld will be held in April with its smaller, sexier Richemont group in-house competitor SIHH geneva based show moving from January to the week before Basel. Praying that retailers hang around and combine their attendance.
Not sure I’ll be joining them.
I won’t miss the expensive hotel rooms, the specially printed restaurant menus reflecting a price hike or paying 10 CHF for a coffee and a croissant. I will miss the buzz, insights and gossip but, then again, that all started to leave for the exit long ago.
Tick tock.
About the Author
The author is a brand consultant and founder of Mission Critical, a high focused and curated weekly briefing for time poor and information hungry decision makers.
