Just as Crocco knew what he wanted his watch to look like, he
also had definite ideas about how it should be positioned. To
capture the attention of well-heeled buyers, he pinpointed
exclusive jewelry stores. "Image is critical," he
stresses.
The distribution of the watches was also important. Rather than
turn the distribution process over to a wholesaler, Crocco set up
offices in key European cities and set his sights on breaking into
the U.S. market.
Once the distribution machinery is in place, it takes time,
patience and lots of high-class selling to launch a luxury product,
according to Goldstein. "This is not a fast-buck
business," he says. It requires a subtle blend of
sophisticated marketing and advertising, superior service and
low-pressure selling. And even if all those factors are working
together, it still takes about five years to build relationships
with exclusive jewelry stores.
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"The watch market is crowded," Goldstein adds.
"There is plenty of competition in all price ranges." In
Crocco's market, the very high end, that means facing off
against formidable superstars like Rolex, Patek Philippe, Vacheron
Constantin and Cartier.
Getting retailers to commit to any watch line takes
arm-twisting. And persuading an exclusive watch dealer to plunk
down hefty sums for a pricey watch that may be difficult to sell
requires the patience of Job. "You can't blame retailers
for being skeptical," says Goldstein. "We were asking
them to invest thousands of dollars in a watch they'd never
tested."
Most exclusive jewelry stores didn't know what to make of
the offbeat timepiece. Some felt the rubber watchband was absurd, a
radical break from tradition. In short, "many dealers were
afraid of being pioneers," says Edward Suhyda, the
company's western regional sales manager for the United States.
"They were afraid of going out on a limb."
Nobody understands the dealer mentality better than Suhyda.
Prior to joining the company, he owned a jewelry store in the Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida, area and was the largest Hublot dealer in the
United States. He loved the watch so much that in 1994, he asked to
join the company.
The key to the Hublot's success was committed salespeople
like Suhyda who believed in the product and could walk into
exclusive jewelry stores and make a compelling presentation.
"Selling the Hublot was a two-step process," Goldstein
recalls. "First, we had to convince retailers to try it. Once
they were convinced, we had to teach them how to sell it to their
customers."
Americans were a particularly hard sell. Crocco introduced the
Hublot to the United States in 1984 but didn't make real
inroads until 1990.
"Breaking into the States was an uphill journey all the
way," Crocco says. "In the mid-1980s, the American market
wasn't ready to understand the concept. Even after potential
buyers got past the quirkiness of the rubber strap, they didn't
understand the watch was a long-term investment. They couldn't
see spending a lot of money on this watch when they could buy a
sturdy Japanese watch for much less."
"Most Americans were unwilling to buy the Hublot because it
had no track record," Suhyda concurs. "They'd heard
of Rolex, but they had never heard of Hublot and were skeptical.
They mistakenly thought they were spending a great deal of money
for a rubber watchband. We had to explain to them that they were
spending a lot for the watch, not the band."
Crocco wouldn't give up. Building his family's watch
line had taught him that a sophisticated publicity campaign using
slick print ads in top consumer and trade magazines would
eventually work. In 1993, he launched a marketing campaign to let
potential buyers know that an impressive lineup of the rich and
famous proudly wear Hublots. The list includes King Carl Gustav of
Sweden, Prince Albert of Monaco, Giorgio Armani, Sylvester
Stallone, Candice Bergen, Elton John, and former New York Knicks
coach Pat Riley.
By 1985, the Hublot was enjoying well-deserved recognition
throughout Europe. But just as sales hit a steady upswing, Crocco
discovered an unforeseen problem: Counterfeit knockoffs of the
Hublot were popping up all over the place.
Imitation is said to be the highest form of flattery, but Crocco
wasn't amused. The Hublot knockoffs put a serious crimp in
sales. Although Goldstein says most were "cheap
imitations," some of the copies were so good, it was hard to
tell them from the real thing. Stopping the counterfeiters was a
long and expensive process. It took a few years and eye-popping
legal fees, but Crocco prosecuted and put the counterfeiters out of
business.
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