CASIO promotes new G-SHOCK Skeleton series via socialPALS

The CASIO brand earns the trust of its customers that has grown over decades. A central challenge here is to actively accompany them on their shopping journey on all relevant channels. This is precisely where socialPALS helps!

November 25, 2021

CASIO promotes new G-SHOCK Skeleton series via socialPALS

November 25, 2021

If retail partners do not yet use the potential of digital platforms, covering the entire customer journey is often a problem from a brand perspective. socialPALS supports CASIO in successfully overcoming this challenge and makes the advantages for stationary retail both visible and tangible!

Marc Czemper
Division Manager WATCH Division | Casio Europe GmbH

Mr Czemper, you have almost been with CASIO Europe GmbH for 20 years now - why don't you tell our readers a little about your career and your current role in the company?

In my function as Division Manager, I, together with my team, have been able to successfully expand the watch business of our CASIO brand both nationally and in Europe over the past years. In this context, I am involved with relevant questions and topics relating to distribution, communication, and consumer expectations; today and tomorrow.

I have just moved house and found my old G-SHOCK watch from my childhood days again. Despite decades at the bottom of a box, the watch was still functioning and was instantly re-activated, quasi a personal collector's item! Does this mean that I belong to the target group that attaches particular importance to robustness? What advertising message and at which touchpoints is the best way to reach them?

Wonderful, you are one of the millions of happy owners of our watch brand. However, it doesn’t surprise me (anymore) that your watch still works perfectly, even after decades, because top quality has always been our highest priority. And that is also why we achieve success today in reaching the various target groups with messages that authentically demonstrate robustness and longevity, among other things. In short: the brand enjoys a very high level of trust that has grown over decades.

Today, G-SHOCK continues to impress its fans with new features and designs, and used the socialPALS platform for the first time to provide its retail partners with high-quality campaign content. Why did you decide to test this approach of automated retail marketing for its efficiency?

We found socialPALS’ product and presentation very impressive and believe that the anticipated benefits will be visible and tangible not only for us but primarily for our retail partners.

What challenges do you currently see in the industry - both for CASIO as a brand and for watch retailers? Have you been able to solve them with the help of the socialPALS platform?

I see a central challenge in the active accompaniment of consumers on their complex shopping journey (customer journey) whenever retail partners do not yet use the potential of digital platforms. socialPALS supports our partners and us in successfully mastering this challenge.

CASIO G-SHOCK Skeleton Campaign socialPALS — Turnkey campaign solution!

What was the purpose of the "G-SHOCK Skeleton" campaign, and how much internal effort (e.g., in marketing) was required to get it off the ground?

The objective was to actively accompany the launch of our new G-SHOCK Skeleton collection with stationary retail partners, to create regional demand on the consumer side in the relevant target group, and thus stimulate sales. The internal effort was relatively low for the success we were able to achieve together with our dealers.

How difficult was it to motivate the retail partners to participate? Is the module "online marketing" accepted as an integration into the sales concept?

Thanks to the user-friendliness and support provided by socialPALS, it was essentially effortless to persuade our partners to participate. To my knowledge, only one invited retail associate did not participate. Thus, the feedback is very positive and, after this first test, will therefore play an essential role in our communication in the future!

Was the campaign a success? Were you already able to draw valuable learnings from it - for example, which channels/formats are best suited for the promoted product?

Yes, it is shaping up to be a success, and we have been able to gain several vital learnings to optimize new campaigns that are already taking place soon.

To what extent did the "Corona crisis" affect the industry? Was there a noticeable drop in sales due to limited shopping in the retail sector due to the lockdown & Co., Or could this be compensated for at other points?

There is no doubt that Corona has also influenced our industry. We can see – analogous to other sectors – a substantial increase in interest in e-com and digital communication topics. Especially e-com was an important success factor during the lockdown phase and will undoubtedly continue to be relevant in the future or even expand. In this respect, we recommend that our partners build up their digital competence to be or remain relevant for consumers as omnichannel retailers.