breitling watches

Chris Evert's father used to find out she won Wimbledon when she called him long distance after the final.

Technology and tennis fans' habits have evolved a bit since the 1970s. Now Evert returns from working at a Grand Slam and people say to her, ''Are there like two or three different networks doing it? Because I get confused.''

''They don't know what's going on, so they turn off the TV,'' she said last week.

All England Club officials set out to ensure that all matches would be broadcast live and by the same company in the United States under their new television contract. They agreed to a 12-year deal with ESPN last summer, ending a 43-year run on NBC.

The move to cable means the finals will air in fewer homes. But it does away with tape-delayed matches and makes the tournament easier to follow in the middle rounds.

ESPN had owned the rights to extensively televise the early rounds since 2003, with NBC picking up coverage as the tournament progressed. NBC, often criticized for not showing all the action live in every time zone, would have ditched the tape delays starting in 2014 using cable partner NBC Sports Network under its bid.

''We got bombarded with emails over the last four, five years of, 'Why can't I watch this match live?''' said Mick Desmond, commercial director at the All England Club. ''I think that was a frustration for us because in nearly every other territory with our broadcast rights, people are watching live. In this day and age, you've got to provide a live proposition.''

Jamie Reynolds, ESPN's vice president for event production, also noticed a shift in fans' expectations around 2007-08. That's when everybody seemed to get a smartphone, and with that the ability to check scores instantaneously, anywhere.

Live is especially crucial in the age of social media, when a casual fan may read on Twitter or Facebook that a match is in the 13th game of the fifth set or that Novak Djokovic is facing match point and decide to tune in.

''There's this unofficial promotional edge that's going, because sports is social currency,'' Reynolds said. ''If you're in the moment, you're in the know. You know exactly where there's a tipping point where somebody has to get involved and engage.''

The network's coverage starting next Monday will include simultaneous airings of quarterfinals on ESPN and ESPN2, the return of the ''Breakfast at Wimbledon'' moniker, and all televised courts shown on.

''So that when you do happen to have a life outside of the time that you may spend six hours watching a gentlemen's final, you can still access your device if you're at a wedding - which I've been before to watch a Sharapova match or someone else,'' said Jason Bernstein, ESPN's senior director of programming and acquisitions.

To make sure fans aren't confused and turning off the TV, Bernstein said, the network's announcers must keep viewers informed of what's taking place on various courts and where to find those matches. Reynolds noted that they also need to realize many people tune in for only bits and pieces of the marathon coverage and want updates on what happened earlier.

Along with airing everything live, keeping the entire tournament with one company was critical, Desmond said.

Marketing data is boring. Worse yet, it’s often the last refuge of people without opinions or convictions who need numbers to hide behind. Shrewd managers can use marketing data to protect budgets and careers. For the less adventurous, data excels at confirming the obvious.

It takes a special talent to look into data and find a totally new insight that can be transformative. Then it takes some guts to use that data to change the way you do business. I found a guy who figured out how to do just that.

I met Don McNichol, the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Tourneau, the luxury watch retailer, as the result of a minor watch collecting habit. We both work with Customer Portfolios, a database marketing firm, so you can take my criticism of data with a grain of salt.

Nick Godfrey from Customer Portfolios introduced us. After some shop talk about watches, I started asking Don questions about the luxury market and suggested that it must be similar to selling luxury cars. With the best corporate diplomacy, Don gently corrected my misconceptions about his business. Watches occupy their own unique place in consumer culture.

He made it clear that he loved mining data and described what he called a “digital constellation” made up of his many marketing channels – stores, web site, social media, mobile, and call centers – all orbiting around a single database. As he talked, the model began to sound more and more like an intricately designed watch with its own grand complications.

I asked exactly what value he wanted to extract from the data that he was collecting. His first answer sounded like what you  hear in the ballroom of any sales meeting. With the data, he can “identify consumer trends, develop appropriate content and messages, and deliver it all at the exact right time that his audience will want to get it.”

“So, you mean you know when to run Father’s Day promotions?” I politely asked.

Don then proceeded to tell me a great anecdote about how all this data has influenced his marketing strategy and led him to shatter two myths that have driven the promotion of luxury watches for generations.

Intuition and speculation have always suggested that if you sell someone a watch, you create a lifetime customer who will grow in value and buy more expensive watches as they move up in their career. You sell a young person a $200 watch when they start out. Then, after the first big promotion they graduate to a better watch, and at the pinnacle of their career, they purchase an expensive luxury watch. Hopefully.

The data, however, tells an overwhelmingly different story. For the vast majority of people, once they buy their first watch, they maintain the same brand sensibility and price point for the rest of their life. As a very personal item, a watch defines a person’s image of who they aspire to be. Apparently, once we form a professional image of ourselves, most of us remain loyal to it.

When you understand this consumer behavior, it changes how you communicate with people. Efforts to up-sell are then proven to be a waste of time. On the other hand, creating more targeted brand stories about the right kind of watches can forge a stronger emotional connection and facilitate the sale of services and gift giving.

If the first myth concerns the types of watches people buy, the second myth concerns timing – no pun intended. Don asked me to guess the average length of time between an individual’s watch purchases. My guess: three-to-five years. It turns out that 60% of repeat purchases happen within 90 days. It’s hard to believe, but that’s the point. Common sense and opinions don’t always lead to the truth of a situation.

Don gave me his take on this phenomenon. While a watch is a considered purchase, it falls between a pair of shoes and a car on the price scale. So, it’s within reach to own more than one. People who love watches probably experience the greatest emotional high during the first couple of months after their original purchase. That’s when they’re most likely to give into their new passion and buy again.

With this information, Tourneau has started to tailor content and marketing programs that reinforce a new enthusiasm and interest in watches. Using all the points in Don’s “digital constellation,” he can engage people based on what they really care about and not on ancient myths.

If the volumes of data you’ve collected only confirms what you already know, and doesn’t lead to some shocking discoveries about your business, it’s probably protecting the status quo. And the status quo is the enemy of innovation.