Despite the emergence of tech competitors like the Apple Watch, luxury jewelry and watch categories are growing again after several quarters of declining sales. With digital sales on the rise and a desire for sleek and simple accessories, it should come as no surprise that innovative watchmaker, Movado acquired digitally-native startup accessories retailer MVMT earlier this month for approximately $100 million before taxes.
Founded in 2013 in Los Angeles, California, MVMT was created to bring a unique and modern voice to the watch market. Initially funded through a crowdsourcing platform, the brand introduced a line of high-quality watches with a modern, minimalist design.
MVMT Venice Watch
Through its direct-to-consumer distribution model, the brand is able to offer much lower, fairer prices than traditional retailers do for similar products. Over the past five years, MVMT has rolled out numerous watch collections, sunglasses, optical glasses, and bracelets for both men and women.
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MVMT Minimal Cuff
Founders Jake Kassan and Kramer LaPlante understanding of modern consumers’ desire to buy into brand experiences over products in-and-of themselves. With MVMT, they encourage their customers to “live life on their own terms” – the brand’s tagline. “At the end of the day, we’re creating the fashion products we always wanted, but could never find,” the founders say. ”We’ve been successful because we’ve been able to engage with and build a community through inspiring content, high-quality products, and an authentic voice.”
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MVMT Malibu Watch
When it comes to modern brand building, authenticity is the name of the game. In the Instagram age, what we believe, we literally wear on our sleeves. Social media platforms now enable us to more thoroughly communicate our aesthetic viewpoints, opinions, and insights to our unique audiences – making every user a tastemaker in his or her own right. Arguably, among all fields, Instagram’s influence is most rapidly disrupting the fashion and accessories industry. Now, if an item does not look good in an Instagram photo, the rule of thumb is don’t buy it.
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MVMT Knot Cuff
Correspondingly, MVMT’s shrewd social media practices enabled them to adopt this strategy to disrupted longstanding watchmaker marketing practices with its fashion and lifestyle-oriented positioning. As of October 2018, MVMT boasts over five million followers across its social platforms. The brand has one million followers (and counting) on its main Instagram account, @mvmt, and 432,000 followers on its female-centric Instagram page, @mvmtforher. For aesthetes as well as travel and thrill seekers alike, these accounts display images of individuals living their lives to the fullest – doing handstands in front of the Effiel Tower in Paris and skydiving – while wearing MVMT watches. By using the hashtag #jointhemvmt, digitally-savvy consumers can build relationships through their user-generated content and, thereby, join the community alongside other raving fans – customers and influencers alike.
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MVMT La Brea Marble Watch
According to The State of Fashion 2018 report, created by McKinsey & Company in collaboration with Business of Fashion, 74% of fashion-related purchases are influenced by social media — whether that be through the brand itself, peer reviews, or influencer marketing. Like any other Millennial brand, MVMT is right there with the rest of them.
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MVMT Oath Watch
“Though it’s evolved throughout the years, we like to champion the genuine friendships we’ve been fortunate enough to build through the years,” Kassan and LaPlante said. “In many cases, we’ve watched the careers of our friends grow right before our eyes, in tandem with that of our own business. As the influencer space continues to crowd and become less profitable, we think authentic relationships and the collaborative opportunities that come from them will prove most enduring.”
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MVMT Sherry Watch
Because they understand the power of co-creating the brand message with their audience from the beginning, digitally-native brands have a leg up when it comes to building relationships with trend-conscious consumers. Furthermore, MVMT clearly demonstrates, throughout every stage and at touchpoint within the business, their commitment to communicating with and empowering their social media followers to help shape the brand’s identity.
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