Swatch

Nicolas Hayek Profile

The Watch Business

Swatch® had developed a watch whose smooth, striking curves gave it characteristics which clearly distinguished it from any other watch. They had used artists, designers and fashion designers to make it look exceptional. The marketing had to be right to establish its unmistakable profile. It needed the right perception in people’s minds. It should be portrayed as fresh and upbeat. It was high-tech, innovative and exciting. The marketing must position it as a ‘must have’ accessory. The difference was that whereas most products that fit those criteria are expensive, the Swatch® was cheap and available to the mass market. This demanded unusual strategies.

Swatch® weren’t just groundbreakers in the world of watch design. The way the Swatch® was marketed was original and exciting for the world of watches and the protection they had once they registered their designs enabled them to develop a strong intellectual property portfolio and become the successful enterprise they are today.


The Entrepreneur

Nicolas George Hayek (19 February 1928, Beirut – 28 June 2010, Biel/Bienne), was a Swiss-Lebanese entrepreneur, co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Swatch Group, with principal headquarters in Biel/Bienne.

Hayek was born, the second of three children, to a Lebanese mother and a Lebanese-American father, both from well-regarded Greek-Orthodox Christian Lebanese families with deep roots in Lebanon's Northern Governorate of El-Koura.

Hayek died unexpectedly on 28 June 2010 of cardiac arrest during work at the Swatch Group headquarters in Biel.



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