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Chopard goes for brand retention with Happy Moments app

October 17, 2011

Chopard's Happy Memories app

Watchmaker and jeweler Chopard is attempting to intertwine itself with consumers’ happy moments while promoting its Happy Diamonds collection with a new application released for the iPhone and iPad.

Consumers can watch a video, upload an image and personalize it to send to their loved ones, which some experts believe will maintain retention by allowing those downloading the app to think of the brand in happy moments. It is available for free in Apple’s App Store.

“It is often difficult to measure the impact of a purely branded app,” said Scott Forshay, Austin, TX-based director of mobile strategy at Morpheus Media, a Createthe Group company. “In the Chopard example, the brand presents a derivation on an Instagram theme, with the ability for users to either snap a photo or upload an existing one from their photo reel, apply one of a series of filters and attach the photo to a choice of cards to be saved to their camera roll.

“The functionality is obvious to iPhone and iPad consumers familiar with the Instagram app, but begs the question as to why a consumer would choose to engage with this app as opposed to the leader in photo sharing applications for the device,” he said.

Mr. Forshay is not affiliated with Chopard, but offered to comment as an industry expert.

Chopard did not respond by press deadline.

Pursuit of happiness
When users first download the app, they are able to see a video of women going about various happy moments.

The Happy Diamonds video

Tapping on “skip intro” directs consumers to the filter, where they can either upload a picture or take a new image for their happy moment.

Consumers can then choose a filter, similar to that of popular app Instagram.

Filter section of the app

After that, consumers are asked to choose a “moment of happiness” caption. By doing this, users choose a caption such as “moment of happiness,” “time for love,” “it’s our party,” “on our way to the moon,” “happy memories,” “my favorite moment,” “happy as ever” and “a beautiful day.”

Corresponding with each caption is a piece of Chopard jewelry including watches, earrings and rings in the Happy Diamonds collection.

Caption section

When consumers are done, the image is saved on their iPad or iPhone, allowing consumers to send consumers to a friend or family member via email or SMS, or upload to social media such as Twitter or Facebook.

Chopard also asks consumers to enter personal information such as email addresses when they are finished making their picture.

“It’s all about the connection with their customers beyond the point of purchase,” said Scott Schwarzhoff, vice president of marketing at Appcelerator, Mountain View, CA.

“And their other apps are also brand affinity apps, but in essence what this does is it extends the length of consideration of the Chopard brand beyond that purchase, which is good for all brands to consider,” he said.

Diamond in the rough
Many jewelers are using mobile as a touch point in which to engage with their affluent audience.

For instance, Tiffany & Co. has two iPhone apps that it uses as an engagement ring chooser and a lifestyle app for its What Makes Love True microsite (see story).

Furthermore, Cartier has an engagement and wedding ring brochure as well as an e-magazine that keeps loyalists updated on goings-on in the brand (see story).

However, Morpheus Media’s Mr. Forshay believes that these apps may be more functional than Chopard’s.

“Mobile moments for brands and their consumers occur in limited time intervals,” Mr. Forshay said. “As such, the experience must be linear in nature with a clearly defined beginning, middle and end to the engagement.

“The Chopard app does not follow such a construct,” he said. “The introductory video is less than inspiring, the photo creation function is an imitation of far better tools and if there is a conclusion to the sequence to be found, the commerce capabilities must be accessed outside of the app construct.

“I’m confused as to what Chopard were attempting to accomplish here.”

However, other experts disagree. Aside from the fact that the app was slow to both load and function, Appcelerator’s Mr. Schwarzhoff did not have complaints.

“The app identifies a strong emotional point and identified an interesting, unique and important emotional connection point with their customers and are building their brand around that,” Mr. Schwarzhoff said. “And fundamentally, that’s the No. 1 thing an app should do.”

Final Take
Rachel Lamb, associate reporter on Luxury Daily, New York

Rachel Lamb is an associate reporter on Luxury Daily. Her beats are apparel and accessories, arts and entertainment, education, food and beverage, fragrance and personal care, government, healthcare, home furnishings, jewelry, legal/privacy and nonprofits. Reach her at rachel@napean.com.