Social Media dancing to the rhythm of the Apple Watch!

Social Media IntelligenceJune 2015Apple Watch study

Social Media dancing to the rhythm of the Apple Watch!

DYNVIBE analyses the launch of the APPLE Smartwatch

At the time of its smartwatch launch at the end of April, the famous Apple brand initiated a shift in direction away from the world of technology towards the world of fashion and luxury. From the launch strategy to the end buyer of the Apple Watch, DYNVIBE, business intelligence social media specialists, analyses the effectiveness of this change of direction.

On the eve of the official launch, while there was a flurry of comments posted on the social media by critics of the Apple Watch listing the product’s faults, namely the lack of certain elements of functionality and the exorbitant price of the object, Apple was deploying a strategy distancing itself from the technological performance of its product with a view to making the watch an exclusive fashion item. Their objective: seduce the fashionistas and the lovers of luxury items. So, pre-launch, international celebrities such as Pharell Williams, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Drake, as well as ambassadors of fashion like Karl Lagerfeld or Anna Wintour, started appearing on social media with an ultra-luxurious limited edition of the Apple Watch (in 24 carat gold) on their wrists, generating considerable publicity for the brand. In fact just 4 photos of these stars posted on their Instagram accounts have, in themselves, generated more than 1.2 million likes and 40,000 comments to say nothing about the millions of tweets from their fans and the hundreds of news sites reporting the information. An impressive show indeed even before the official launch of the Apple Watch….

To confirm the total change in direction, while the brand had announced that the product would only be marketed on the internet in the first instance, a hand-full of carefully selected luxury concept stores (Dover street in Tokyo and London, Maxfield in Los Angeles, Colette in Paris, The Corner in Berlin and 10 Corso Como in Milan) are also retailing the Apple Watch reinforcing its image of a product at the cutting edge of fashion.

So, has this tactic allowed the Apple brand to achieve its aim?

To check this, since the 24th April, the official launch date of the smartwatch, DYNVIBE has analysed 4000 conversations and profiles of Apple Watch owners to understand the motivation behind their purchases.

The analysis of the profiles of all of the first Apple Watch buyers, who had posted comments on social media, indicates first of all a very masculine target market. In fact 77% are men aged between 25 and 35.

APPLE WATCH STUDY // DYNVIBE – JUNE 2015 PAGE 1


42% are fans of fashion and luxury who value the object more than its technological capabilities

Amongst them, the majority of those who commented on the purchase of the Apple Watch (24% of profiles analysed) are fashionistas. On social media they usually share photos about their look, their purchases, the shops they go to and the brands they identify with. When discussing the Apple Watch they have bought, they present it as a fashion accessory, appreciating “the object” without ever mentioning the technology side. For example they display the watch in their “#ootd” (outfit of the day photos) as an accessory and part of their style of dress: “ Ready. #bleudepaname jacket, #norseprojects anton cord shirt, #edwin ED88 jeans, #redwing chukka boots, #applewatch. #outfitplace #outfitfromabove #povoutfit ”. For them the Apple Watch allows them to confirm a style at the cutting edge of fashion: “ I feel so fancy with the #applewatchsport How yummy and cool #”.

However, we also found in 18% of cases, lovers of high end goods. On the social media, these internet users regularly share moments in their lives where these brands and signs of luxury predominately feature. These consumers regard the Apple Watch as an object of prestige. So when they take a photo of it, they depict it in a world of luxury, like in front of the wing of a Porsche for example with the title “ My new toy “, next to their high brand watch “Time changes things #omega #appleWatch”, or in other exclusive settings.

The remaining profiles of Apple Watch buyers (22% of the profiles analysed) are fans of high tech products, “geeks” who are often enthusiasts of the Apple brand. They are first in the queue at each launch of a new product. The purchase of the Apple Watch was therefore an absolute necessity for them: “Dating an Apple product fanatic leads to things... really great things. But he's real jealous I got mine before him Introducing my new toy WATCH #applewatch“.

We also found, to a lesser extent (13% of profiles analysed) sportspeople who have bought the Apple Watch for its capability to monitor their sporting performances. On the social media they highlight using their smartwatch during their sports training. In this respect, they are the only users of the watch to express an interest in the applications and functionality of the object: “Successful run this morning! I just need to bring my pace down by at least 30 seconds and I'll be good! Not bad though for my first long run after letting my shins heal in April! All these stats were recorded on my Apple Watch! I didn't even have to take my phone out with me! #applewatch #fitness #apple”.



The view of Anne-Cécile GUILLEMOT co-founder of Dynvibe and director of “Market Research"

”If the buyers of the Apple Watch are primarily men between the ages of 25 and 35, already consumers and often early adopters of the brand’s products, the in-depth analysis of the content that they habitually post on social media enables us to identify a greater complexity among the consumer profiles and some very different motivations. We note, for example, that the fashion fans represent the biggest group of buyers ahead even of the geeks. The fact that nearly half of the buyers of the Apple Watch value it as a status symbol without ever making mention of its technological capabilities, confirms that Apple’s shift in direction has worked well for this latest product release”.

Regarding Dynvibe

Created in 2009 by Anne-Cécile and Nicolas Guillemot, Dynvibe is a pioneer and leader in business intelligence in the social media. At the forefront of innovation, the company produces and delivers, through its strategic analysis cell, extensive consumer research from data available on the social sphere.

Dynvibe collects and analyses this information thanks to two simple and complementary platforms available to its customers:-Dynvibe Sphere: an array of intuitive and powerful dashboards used for listening, observing, monitoring and analysing the social sphere.-Dynvibe Pages: a measurement tool of Facebook pages, to track performance and compare them with those of its competitors.

Dynvibe has many international clients such as L'Oreal, PUIG (Paco Rabanne, Nina Ricci, etc.), Luxottica (Ray Ban, Oakley, etc.), Dior, Galeries Lafayette, La Redoute, Walt Disney, etc.

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