Omega’s Terrible James Bond Watch Advert Wasn’t the Reason it Failed
But did that hurt or help the luxury watch brand?
Is there something worse than bad marketing?
There’s a common misconception that bad marketing always ruins good products… This is not always the case.
There’s something else that can ruin a good product — bad timing.
Omega learned that first hand when it released an ad for it’s new 007 Seamaster, to commemorate the launch of the new James Bond film, ‘No Time To Die’.
The ad was widely discredited as “sloppy” and “misjudged”.
One YouTuber, Peter McKinnon, even used this ad to teach his audience ‘what not to do’ when editing video.
He re-edited the ad to avoid the “inception horns” and the result wiped the floor with Omega’s initial efforts.
Note: you can see Omega’s original ad and McKinnon’s re-edit in the video below.
Omega had egg on their face… but did that matter?
Businesses forget criticism over the way a product is sold is not a criticism of the product itself. Buyers and reviewers are very impressed with the finished product from Omega.
So why aren’t more people buying it?
What actually hurt Omega’s sales
McKinnon’s video challenging the marketing efforts of Omega is ironically an ad for the watch too — an ad with over half a million views that Omega can be grateful for.
As long as it’s not racist, sexist or offensive, lazy marketing efforts from brands will still garner attention for a good product — ironically through word of mouth, while it’s being called out.
Don’t believe me? Think about an ad you like for a product you don’t like. Now think about a product you like that has an ad you don’t like. Why did you buy it if you didn’t like the way it was marketed? Probably because other sources told you how good it was.
Given that is true in most people’s experiences, the thing that ruins the potential success of good products most often, is bad timing.
I know a guy with 12,000 fidget spinners in his warehouse that would agree with that statement wholeheartedly.
In this example, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the latest entry in the 007 saga was pushed back until April 2021. So Omega’s 25th Anniversary watch ended up launching in 2020 without the promotion of the movie to generate hype.
Although you can still buy the watch, it will inevitably suffer from ‘not feeling new’ when the movie is finally launched later this year. They should have waited.
What should have been a complete sellout of a limited edition product, is now a forgotten gem. A lesson in not firing first — and one that Omega has learned the hard way, so we don’t have to.