Latest / Between The Briefs with Stef Calleja-Gera / Rod de la Garza - Creative Director Bomberg

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Rod de la Garza - Creative Director Bomberg · Between The Briefs with Stef Calleja-Gera

0:20
SPEAKER_01: Well, welcome back to the podcast.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: This week, sat in the hot seat with me, I have Rod De la Gaza, who is the creative director for Bomberg Watches Switzerland.
0:29
SPEAKER_01: Rod, welcome to the show.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: That was great.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Very, very professional.
0:32
SPEAKER_00: I try.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: You sound like a yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: A podcast host.
0:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: No way.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: I'm very impressed.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's go.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: Right, okay.
0:41
SPEAKER_01: I do have some questions here for you.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: Are you prepared?
0:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:44
SPEAKER_01: Comfortable?
0:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: Good.
0:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay, love it.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so before you were the creative director for Bomberg Watches, you actually had your own YouTube channel already.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: Right.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, and that was very watch-centric.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: So, can you talk to me a bit about that?
0:57
SPEAKER_01: Explain the obsession behind watches and what the show is all about.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: So I think, I mean, I'm a very obsessive person in general, right?
1:07
SPEAKER_00: Surely.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: And I'm a compulsive entrepreneur, I'd say.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: So throughout my adult life, I'm I've always been starting projects that sometimes go nowhere, sometimes they go somewhere, right?
1:21
SPEAKER_00: And the YouTube channel about watches was just one of many other things, except that one took off in a sense, right?
1:29
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, I've been, I mean, I'm obsessed with different things all the time.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm obsessed with cameras, I've been obsessed with bread making, with you know, plant growing, with spiders.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: I I'm sorry, we're gonna have to go back to bread making and spiders later.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
1:45
SPEAKER_00: We can talk about making bread at home.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh yeah, I I bred spiders at one point.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: I uh um made music.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: I, you know, it's just I like I like things, and when I like them, I really get into them.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: So anyway, my story with watches is it started sometime early 2010s.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: I bought my first adult watch.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: And I thought, wow, this is nice.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: And then I started, I went online and on Reddit, and then it was just downhill from there.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: I just became obsessed, right?
2:17
SPEAKER_00: It's just this whole world of fascinating mechanical things.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: And what's great about it is it tickles two of my interests.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: One, which is complexity and and the um mechanics of it, and the other side, which is design, essentially.
2:35
SPEAKER_03: Okay, yeah.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: They can be beautiful objects, right?
2:37
SPEAKER_00: And it does, and it can be one or the other, or they or it can be both sometimes.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: And so they're fascinating objects.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: Um they're also weirdly, I think the only sort of acceptable, not acceptable, but common jewelry for men.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: We don't really have a lot of options for wearing, you know.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: I mean, sure, you have rings or you know, pendants, whatever, but watches are ubiquitous.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: A statement piece.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: And and and they can be like you just said, um, a way of expressing who you are, yeah.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: So so yeah, so I got into watches, started collecting watches for a few years, and then one day I thought, you know, I now I, you know, it had been five, six, seven years of collecting watches, and I thought maybe I could share it with other people and and in the process continue to learn because you never stop learning.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: So I started a YouTube channel, and that's the story behind the YouTube channel.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: It started as a hobby.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: I just started buying, and then they weren't particularly expensive watches or anything.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: I just started buying watches, uh reviewing them, talking about brands, news, uh, the history of some brands, things like that, or I don't know, odd, quirky facts about certain uh movements, uh the mechanisms, whatever.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: And that's what I did.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: I lived off of YouTube for five, six, seven years.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: Did you learn it as you went then, or did you did you already know all of this information?
3:59
SPEAKER_01: Or were you just about watches?
4:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, or was it both.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I knew a lot by then, but then also in the process of communicating it, you inform yourself.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh sometimes because you want to talk about things that you don't know, and other times because you want to make sure you you do know what you think you know.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh so yeah, so that's what's great about doing things is even if you think you know them, you keep learning as you do them, right?
4:23
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: Um with anything.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: Sure, yeah.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, and that's what I did.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and at what point did like that shift actually become being a person that sort of shapes a brand creatively around um, you know, watches and becomes the direction of the entire sure.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: Um okay, so besides the YouTube thing, for a long time professionally, I've been well, I've been many things, but for the longest time I was a photographer, right?
4:57
SPEAKER_00: And I did interiors photography and architectural photography mostly.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: And then when I got into watches, I became obsessed with photographing watches, which I found out is very difficult, as you now know.
5:09
SPEAKER_01: Um I share your pain.
5:12
unknown: Yeah.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Especially when you do product photography for catalogs or things like that, it is the worst.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if if you want to hate your job, just photograph watches.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: Um and so I became obsessed with that.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: Uh and so that's that's one side of things.
5:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, I became very good at photographing.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know if I forget that, became good at photographing watches.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: And then besides this, parallel to all these things happening in my adult life, I've also been a brand consultant for other companies.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: And because of all these projects that I've started, I've also created lots of brands and I've learned a lot about branding.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: It also has to do with what I studied in uni.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, but, anyways, so that's how the whole thing kind of came together.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: After I started the YouTube channel, I was doing that for a long time.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: I started to meet a lot of people in the watch industry.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I started doing photography for some brands, I started doing consulting for others, and then eventually I met the people with whom I work with now uh at Bomberg.
6:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: On that basis, what's one brief that you've written that you think I know this is gonna be a nightmare to shoot, but we're gonna do it anyway.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: There's probably a few.
6:29
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think every time you write a brief, there's always the concern that it's not going to translate or it's not gonna end up looking like you want it to.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: And to be fair, most of the time it doesn't.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: And that's not a bad thing, that's just the nature of things, right?
6:44
SPEAKER_00: But you usually approximate it in one way or another.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think the the shoots we did for the edge, for the the first edge shoot, uh the product shots that we wanted to do with the glass breaking, with the ice, with the rocks, there were so many elements, and we wanted them to be very dynamic and and very, and I thought this is gonna be very complicated to shoot.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: And it was, but it turned out great.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: And and building the bespoke with the glass thing.
7:13
SPEAKER_01: And with the bespoke cage.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: The cage, that's right, the cube.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: The cube called it the cube.
7:18
SPEAKER_01: The cube, yeah, yeah, yeah.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: And had that built by um, well, a set builder come welder.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, basically.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: The amount of different stuff that we've produced.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: It's really not not just because the concepts are sometimes difficult or they seem like how are we gonna accomplish this?
7:35
SPEAKER_00: But you always end up finding someone, you always end up sorting the problem out, which is great.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: Well because it was because I you know, at the time I thought, who like where do you go and say, I want you to weld a cube with like lines that go straight through and it needs to be huge, and and we need to direct which we see it with a certain budget, and you know, it's yeah, and like direct exactly where those lines are going to align so that they're not too symmetrical, not too perfect, not too close to each other, but not too far apart.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but also so we can wrap a watch around it and all of that stuff.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was a great person to work with, actually.
8:11
SPEAKER_01: He was really great.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
8:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, no, we've worked on some fun stuff.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, so obviously, you're probably the perfect person to have on this show because you understand how visual brands come together.
8:25
SPEAKER_01: You know, you've worked in this world for a long time, um, and it's a bit like a watch, right?
8:30
SPEAKER_01: Loads of tiny little pieces that come together to make something perfect.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: That's how I would kind of relate it to your world.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: I hate the analogy, but yes.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
8:41
SPEAKER_00: It's a little too on the nose.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's the truth.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: But it's not a nice.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, so what in your in your view then is the magic formula the makes or breaks a brand that makes something come together?
8:53
SPEAKER_00: What is the formula that makes or breaks a brand?
8:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, is there one?
8:58
SPEAKER_00: No.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: No, no, and I think I wouldn't even know where to start.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: Like, there's so many variables.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna try to go very basic and very broad, but essentially you need to have a clear identity.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: You need to know, and I think we've talked about this before.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: First of all, you need to understand are you a brand or are you a product or a service?
9:23
SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people think they have they have products and they think they're brands, but they're not their products.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: Or they're a service and they think they're a brand, but they're not, they're a service.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: Everybody wants to be a brand.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: Not everybody needs to be a brand, I think.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: Like that it shouldn't be something you have to do.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: And not everybody or or not everything can be a brand.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: And that's okay too.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: Like there's, you know, there's different spaces for different things.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, but if you are a brand or you do want to be a brand, or you think you should be a brand, I think the first thing is having a very clear identity.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: Like you have and and you have to be very especially when you're starting out, and especially now, I think the narrower the better.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: The narrower your focus, your message, your identity, your customer, your goals, the better.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: Niche up then.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: 100%.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: Good advice.
10:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's been that case for a while.
10:19
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's always been the case.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: But uh I would say probably the most success I see is where it's quite specific on what somebody offers because it's clear what the message is, right?
10:30
SPEAKER_01: Correct.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: And and and I'm wondering, maybe it didn't used to be this way.
10:33
SPEAKER_00: Like you could be a brand that did a lot of things before social media, before the internet, but maybe not.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: I think everyone, most people always found success by having a niche product or service or something, you know?
10:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: Anyway.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: What would you what would you say?
10:50
SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously, you know, AI is now going to become a massive part of the industry, um, if not, you know, most of the industry.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: But what would you say?
11:00
SPEAKER_00: Well, you mean like the creative industry?
11:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: What would you say is um is sort of a good way for brands to move forward to navigate that transition?
11:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think it's a tool, and I think not everybody not not everybody has to use it, not everybody should use it.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: And if you're going to use it, then you need to know the tool to use it effectively.
11:25
SPEAKER_00: The problem I see now is everybody wants to use it, but not a lot of people know how to use it properly or when to use it and when not to use it.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: It has a place, like anything.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a lot to say about AI, so I don't know how deep you want to get into it.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: I think overall it feels more destructive than anything.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, but that's probably the way people have felt about new technologies since forever.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: Like something comes along which changes things, and everybody hates it, and everybody thinks it's a bad thing, and then people adapt and you get used to it, and it just becomes part of the status quo.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: Um but for now, I would say, and this is and this is what we do in in all the brands I'm involved in, is we'd rather use it less and with caution and with care rather than overdo it.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: I think it can hurt a brand if you don't use it well or if you overuse it.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: Um and I think there's still a lot to be defined, like there's still a lot to be seen in terms of, you know, because it keeps changing every year.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: So you can't say, okay, this is what AI is, and this is how we're gonna use it.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: Because the moment you start doing it, it's already changed, and you can do more things or different things with it.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: And now you're kind of stuck if you've defined some sort of um, I don't know, processes or or or things to do with the tool that you knew at the time.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: So I think it's I think right now it if you can afford it, it's it's better to hold off and see where it goes and see what happens, see how the industry reacts, see how people react to it.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: Because I stay, I still I think that still as a society and as consumers, we haven't decided how we feel about it.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, I have my personal opinions, you'll have yours, other people, some people love it, some people hate it, but it hasn't become normal yet where we know where it stands.
13:13
SPEAKER_01: No, and not everybody's using it evenly either.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Well, exactly, yeah.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: So so so I think as a brand, there's a little for me anyway, it feels there's a little too much risk uh in using it in any, you know, um consumer forward, consumer-facing way uh to to to decide, yeah.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: Okay, interesting.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: So I'd say proceed with caution, essentially.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, fair enough.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: No, well, I think everybody is, aren't they?
13:43
SPEAKER_01: And and it's a learning process, you know, everybody is still getting their head around how they can implement it and where it's best to use it and what the yeah, you know, what the what the benefits actually are, and like you say, like how you maintain um that level of you know individuality, personality, and whatever else the brand or the company or the or the service is trying to retain while still, you know, bringing in the things that it's useful for, because obviously there is that danger of everything starting to look the same.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: Yes, or everybody having access to the same tools so everybody can produce the same amount and type of things, then everything just feels very saturated.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think especially in terms of photography and video, and we've talked about this before, I think it'll change things dramatically.
14:33
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: But uh, you know, there will be good things that come out of it as well.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I think so.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: For sure.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: It's all it's all a bit of a sort of like we say, changing landscape.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh but that's part of this.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: But that's part of this podcast, right?
14:51
SPEAKER_01: That's part of the conversation, the wider conversation about what ha what goes on in the creative world, what's happening, you know, what the changes are and how we can embrace them, you know, move forwards and hopefully sort of integrate it into a business without it ruining it, basically.
15:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: So I want to talk a little bit about Bomberg, if that's okay.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: Um Bomberg's moved from having several distinct brand worlds to focusing much more on racing over the last sort of year, I guess.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, what was the the thought process behind that and um sort of you know what journey has that been for you guys?
15:30
SPEAKER_00: So uh Bomber was always a racing brand.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: The first watch that was ever released by Bomber was a racing chronograph.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: Okay, um alongside other things, right?
15:42
SPEAKER_00: So that has always been there, but it but like you said, it's been one part of of many.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: It's it was it's been a very versatile watch brand, I'd say.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: And we've done a lot of things.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: It's been it, I mean, it's been a brand that has fun, essentially.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: Um personality.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: A lot of yeah.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: They are love it or hate it watches, right?
16:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, they're not they elicit responses, either positive or negative, but but they're you know, they're they're they're not meek, I'd say.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so the brand has always tried a bunch of different things, and they've always had fun with the brand.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: And that's great.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's you know, it's had its its um space to do that.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: And I've been with them for about four years now.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: And when I joined, they had this project of kind of restructuring, re-imagining the brand, not in a completely different way, but I think finding the focus, right?
16:45
SPEAKER_00: Finding where it is that we want to, again, narrow the narrower the better.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
16:49
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: So I think it was very broad and it did well while it did that.
16:56
SPEAKER_00: But you know, as a group, they decided that they wanted to become more focused, clear message, clear image, and racing was the obvious choice.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: Once one, because that's how it started, and two, because that's I mean, I don't know if the most, but one of the most successful collections was the racing collection.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: So for the last four years, we've been building towards that, you know, trying to you know focus uh every year more and more on the racing side of things, phasing other things out.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: Um the the watches, the product has to follow, obviously.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, the message has to follow, and the overall brand image has to follow.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's I mean, and it's been a we're on year four now, and we still have a while to go.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's it's like a consistent journey, essentially.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: There's a there's a very clear direction of where we're going.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: And we found you know, uh partners who to do this with, uh, collabs, we have ambassadors for the brand that are you know uh pilots for for racing teams, things like that.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so cool.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: So everything starts, you know, yeah, slowly coming together to bring that in and yeah, and just and help to build the community as well behind it.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, of course.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's great.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: So um with that in mind, do you see like the the visual assets, the photography, the video, the you know, the short sort of films that you have made as um as the the sort of final expression of the brand strategy, or do you see that as what helps shape it?
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Both, I think it's a feedback loop, right?
18:35
SPEAKER_00: So like I said, it's it's a it's a process, right?
18:39
SPEAKER_00: So the identity of the brand defines what we want from the visual assets, the visual assets show what the brand is and reinforce that message.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: That becomes clearer.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: So once you see things expressed visually, you go like, okay, this is what we like, this we like less, or this feels like not exactly in the direction.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: So every cycle of creation you refine and you find clear direction, and you and you think, okay, we love this.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh, this is okay.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: This maybe next time we don't do, you know.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: And it's okay, it's not because there's anything wrong with it, but at the time it was made, yeah, it it made sense.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: But the but the more loops you have of that uh creation cycle, I think the clearer it becomes.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: So it's both an expression of the brand and it also helps to to define the direction of the brand, and it's one of many variables of what makes a brand.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: So I wouldn't say the content is the final expression.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: There is no one single thing that is the final expression of the brand.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: It's just the ever evolving.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's um it's an ecosystem of you know, visuals and messages and photos and you know, videos, and uh the community and the events and the product itself and the people who work there.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: So it it all you know it's jungle of elements.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: I like that term.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's nice.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: You should TM just came up with it.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why it felt right, yeah.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: No, no, it did, it did.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: So how so how do you know then if um a campaign or a launch has worked effectively?
20:23
SPEAKER_01: Is that through engagement sales?
20:25
SPEAKER_01: Like how do you track things?
20:27
SPEAKER_00: So there's different ways because there's different objectives and there's different time frames through which uh you you can evaluate that, right?
20:36
SPEAKER_00: So short term, it's always sales, right?
20:38
SPEAKER_00: So you do a launch campaign for a new product, sure, you track the sales, it's a new product, so you see, okay, uh, did we sell more than we did the last launch, or did we sell less, or did we sell the same?
20:49
SPEAKER_00: That's one way it serves one purpose, and sales are important as are with any company, but there are broader, longer-term things that you need to track as well, because every campaign is reinforcing a brand message, and the more the brand message is reinforced, the more it connects with other people.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: So there's also an underlying KPI, if you will, of brand growth and recognition.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mean sales this month or this quarter or this year.
21:28
SPEAKER_00: There are people who haven't bought a Bomberg watch, but they've seen the brand online and they've seen the content and have been like, oh, okay, I've seen them.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: So the next time they see something, they're like, oh, I know that brand and I like what they're doing, and that resonates with me.
21:41
SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't, you know, like sales are are one thing, but there are many things, midterm and long term, in terms of brand growth, um recognition, identity, you know, um and consistency being out there, consistently and you know, obviously repeatedly giving that message so that
22:00
SPEAKER_01: You know, yeah, when they're in a position to buy.
22:02
unknown: Yeah.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: Maybe next year they want to.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: They'll meet someone who is a fan of motorsports and they'll be like, oh my God, have you heard of Baumberg?
22:09
SPEAKER_00: No, what are they?
22:10
SPEAKER_00: And you know, they're they're watchmen for for racing fans, and they'll be like, Oh, cool.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, but it's about being in the mind of people as something with a clear message.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: And on that note, that leads me on to ask you about the collaboration between Porsche Club GB.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: So tell me a bit about that.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think you should tell that story.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: It was you who kind of uh meddled and and and and found introduced us.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: It was all it was all um sort of it was all a little bit accidental, really, um in a lot of ways, wasn't it?
22:46
SPEAKER_01: And um, and you know, obviously we were working on shoots together um to uh create some racing themed shoots.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: Um I had already been working with Porsche Club GB uh on their photography, yeah.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: Some photography and some brand guidelines with them as well.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: And so it was seemed like a natural sort of um introduction, and obviously that then led on to this um commemorative piece that you guys did.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, if you want to.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: I mean uh they've been wonderful.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: They're like everyone is lovely and they are fun, they like to have fun.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, who wouldn't, you know, working for Porsche Club?
23:25
SPEAKER_00: Like that's amazing.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: It's you know very enthusiastic about their Porsches.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, as with any community, right?
23:31
SPEAKER_00: And as they should be.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: For sure.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, beautiful cars, incredible machines.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: Um you introduced me to Ollie at one point.
23:39
SPEAKER_00: Um the idea came up of uh being, you know, of a partnership of some sort.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh we we we became essentially one of their partners, um, you know, in their magazines, their um their communication.
23:54
SPEAKER_01: I have a magazine here.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: Oh, do you?
23:57
SPEAKER_00: You had Ollie earlier.
23:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh and and eventually the conversation turned into, you know, maybe we could do something.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: Their 65th anniversary was coming up, and it felt like an opportunity to do something cool with a watch.
24:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly what we did.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: We made a special edition um Porsche Club GB 65th anniversary watch and uh an edition of a hundred pieces.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: Um we launched it early summer this year, 2026, and it's been great.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's really good.
24:31
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, it's really nice to see like those collaborations.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: I know, yeah.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: And I actually, you know, something physical came as a bit.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's brilliant.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: It's been super fun.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the whole process of designing the watch and the colors and the case back and how do you make it special and how do you make it unique, and presenting it and then shoot shooting the content with you, creating the content.
24:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, that was a lot of fun.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: And then seeing everything come together, you know, in the magazine and on their website and social media, and you know, you you have people seeing it at the events.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: And again, some people like some people don't, that's fine, but you've created something that is unique and fun and different, and it resonates with a lot of people.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: And and yeah, I think it's been quite the success.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's great.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, hopefully they'll uh it will lead to some other collaborations as well, which is really cool.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, okay, uh, so here's a question for you.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: What's more valuable to you?
25:28
SPEAKER_01: Visuals that get a huge reaction immediately, or one that quietly changes how people perceive a brand over time.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: There you go, there's a question.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: What's more important?
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: I think you need both.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: Um you need the ones that create engagement for your short-term goals, and you need the ones that truly define the brand for your long-term goals.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: So, really, you can't pick and choose.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: It I mean, it depends on your goals, right?
25:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: Are you struggling?
25:56
SPEAKER_00: Are you drowning?
25:57
SPEAKER_00: Do you need sales tomorrow?
25:58
SPEAKER_00: Then you need the first kind.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Are you doing okay?
26:01
SPEAKER_00: And are you looking to grow a brand?
26:02
SPEAKER_00: And are you looking to expand?
26:04
SPEAKER_00: And are you looking to, you know, um, then you need the second kind.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: But I think you'll first as a brand, you need to figure out that balance where you are and what your priorities are, but you always need a bit of both anyway.
26:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, fair enough.
26:19
SPEAKER_01: Okay, right.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: Have what have I got here?
26:21
SPEAKER_01: Oh, ooh, ooh, I have a question, I have a question that I wanted to ask you.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: Oh, very exciting.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: Why?
26:26
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to ask you about the spiders.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: The spiders.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh nothing.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: I got tell me why?
26:34
SPEAKER_01: What?
26:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: They're weird.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: They are f it wasn't spiders, it was tarantulas.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, that's even worse.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: No, so they are fascinating creatures or fascinating animals.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's hundreds of species of them.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: A lot of them are protected.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, you can keep tarantulas as pets.
26:50
SPEAKER_00: Were you protecting them?
26:51
SPEAKER_00: No, but I wasn't.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: Uh I mean, sure, I mean, I was, of course.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: They're pets, like you care for them, right?
26:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's the New World tarantulas, which are all of the Americas, they're tend to be not venomous.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: And then there's the old world tarantulas from Africa and Asia.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: They tend to be more venomous.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh, tarantulas can't kill you unless you're allergic, kind of like for for for bee sting.
27:13
SPEAKER_03: Oh, really?
27:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it may hurt if they bite you, but but it won't kill you.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: Um and yes, I was fascinated with them for a long time.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: I kept them as pets.
27:23
SPEAKER_00: They live for a long time.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: Females can live up to 30, 35 years.
27:26
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
27:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, I had about a hundred of them at one point.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: They're amazing because they don't need a lot of space, they require a little care.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: Very interesting.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: They're they're not like like you can't play with them, right?
27:40
SPEAKER_00: They're not dogs.
27:41
SPEAKER_02: Fetch.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: They're they're more like an aquarium, you know.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: They're they're like fish, uh, where you observe and respect.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: You feed them a cricket or a worm every week, have a little bit of water, have a little cave for them to burrow in, and that's it.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: But they're amazing.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're they're visually interesting.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: They're I don't know, yeah.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: I I learned way too much.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: And then I I got into breeding them, which is a whole process because females tend to get very aggressive.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, I can keep talking about tarantulas for a long time, or watches, or bread making, but let's not.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, so many, so many follow-up questions.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, okay, we'll move on.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: So, quickfire.
28:18
SPEAKER_01: You ready for this?
28:18
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
28:19
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: The lightning round.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: You ready?
28:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: Swiss movement or Japanese movement?
28:25
SPEAKER_01: Swiss.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: Function or aesthetics?
28:30
SPEAKER_00: Aesthetics for me.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: Although watch people tend to go for functions.
28:35
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think can it can I expand a little bit on this?
28:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, go for it.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm interrupting your lightning round.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Is it okay?
28:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
28:42
SPEAKER_03: Go for it.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think in general, in the watch industry, people are obsessed with mechanisms and and I get it and I appreciate them.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: But to me, it's the look of a watch that sells it or or doesn't, you know.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: Ideally, you have both, where it's a beautiful watch, it has an amazing movement, and there's so much you can talk about movements in terms of you know the the brands that make it in-house and where you outsource them or how you modify them and the complications and things like that.
29:09
SPEAKER_00: But to me, I am a very visual person.
29:12
SPEAKER_00: So I, you know, I if I love the way a watch looks, then you know, hopefully it's interesting on the inside, but it doesn't have to be.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: And I'm okay wearing uh, you know, any any watch if if I think it it looks then never mind that I like the way it looks, I want it to be interesting.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I want it to be weird, interesting, different, odd in some way.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's yes.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: Well, I appreciate classic watches, you know, that yeah, I it's not what does it for you.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: No, yeah.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: Got it, got it.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay, shall I continue?
29:47
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
29:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay, right.
29:48
SPEAKER_01: Mechanical or coarse?
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh both, it depends.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: Uh sorry, like it's a bad lightning round questions, but a lot to say, and I'm and I'm not good at staying quiet.
29:59
SPEAKER_00: Um the obvious answer is mechanical because that's what makes the watch industry and watch collecting and and watch history interesting.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: You know, the the complexity of the movements and the the complications.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot there that's that's fascinating, and that's what makes most watches interesting.
30:19
SPEAKER_00: But quartz has its place, like it's very practical, it's cheap, and it is the cheapest quartz movement you ever find will be more precise than the most incredible expensive mechanical movement.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: So quartz watches might vary by a second every month, and even the most precise mechanical watch will vary by a second or two per day.
30:42
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: So quartz is is big difference.
30:45
SPEAKER_00: It's a big difference.
30:46
SPEAKER_00: Quartz is fascinating and interesting in its own way.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh but yes.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: But with mechanical, you you age less quickly.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: So maybe mechanical wait, why?
30:57
SPEAKER_01: Because it because it varies by more each day, right?
30:59
SPEAKER_01: So it's getting slower by more each day.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: If you have a watch that runs slow, then you're not aging as quick.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: Vintage or modern?
31:11
SPEAKER_00: Modern.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: Don't want to elaborate on that one.
31:14
SPEAKER_00: Modern because there's more interesting designs.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: Like I, you know, quirky and weird and interesting.
31:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: A lot of them are a reflection of vintage ones anyway, because people rehash.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of rehashing in the what in the watch industry.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, I mean, we try very hard not to do that at Baumberg.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: But regardless of what we do at Baumberg, my preference is always for weird.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: So, and vintage watches, they tended because watches, see, here we go.
31:43
SPEAKER_00: Watches were not accessories, they were tools for a long time.
31:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you needed a watch to know the time.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: They were practical, they were like a pen, you know, it's something you needed that you used.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: Of course, there's different levels of pens, there's different levels of watches, but it was seen as a tool.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: Now, ever since you know uh cell phones came around, everybody has the time in their pocket, so you don't need a watch.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: So now it's changed from tool to accessory.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: So now it's become much more about aesthetics, I think.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not that it wasn't, but you know, yeah, you know what I'm trying to say.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: I do.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: It still does both, but yeah.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, chronograph or three hand.
32:26
unknown: Three hand.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
32:28
SPEAKER_01: Leather or steel.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: Steel.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: Pristel.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: Bracelet, yeah.
32:32
SPEAKER_01: Petina or pristine.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
32:40
SPEAKER_01: Big watch or understated.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: On the bigger side.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: Nineties hip hop or nineties rock.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: Or rock.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: Paperback or hardback.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: Hardback.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: Nirvana or hard job.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: Nirvana.
32:58
SPEAKER_01: Mac or PC.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: Mexico City.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: No.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: Mexico City.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: Or London.
33:14
SPEAKER_01: Where's your loyalty?
33:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm joking.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: Sweating here.
33:21
SPEAKER_00: Um honest answer.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: I mean like with anything.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: It's both for different things, but uh, we'll go with London.
33:28
unknown: Oh, okay.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: I know the answer to this one already, but I'm gonna ask it anyway.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: Night owl or early bird?
33:34
SPEAKER_00: Oh, night owl.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: I can't go to sleep before two in the morning.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: And I'm usually, unless we're on a shoot, I'm usually not awake before 10 in the morning.
33:44
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing like morning.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm useless in the mornings.
33:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: And I've been this way since I was like 13.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: I like the quietness of the night.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: The circadian rhythm is much later.
33:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: I like that the phone doesn't ring, there's no cars, there's no people.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: That's nice.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: It's a good space to be creative and to think and reflect.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: Well, I just like to work on a Saturday instead.
34:10
SPEAKER_01: That's my way of doing that.
34:12
SPEAKER_01: I just don't work at nighttime.
34:14
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise I'd be asleep.
34:15
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, same thing, but different.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: But anyway.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: Um contact sheet or Instagram grid.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: Oh contact sheet, one time.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: I knew you were gonna say that.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: Shoot it yourself or direct someone else to shoot it.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: Well it depends what, Ryan.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: Like I I miss I miss shooting, I miss photography.
34:36
SPEAKER_00: Um it's different, right?
34:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: Don't have an answer.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: Depends.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: Fair enough.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: Depends what the project is.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: Both and neither.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: Both, exactly.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: No, I think both.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: Not neither, because I enjoy both.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
34:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:52
SPEAKER_01: I actually thought you'd say direct.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: Oh really?
34:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because I I think you I think you enjoy well from the case.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: I I I I do enjoy it.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: And and then that's why I said, like I can't say neither because I enjoy both of them.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: But I sometimes I do miss being the one that, you know, creates the you know, like physically.
35:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a nice part of the process.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: No, it's weird.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I held a camera in my hand for so long that I often miss, like, I know the canon grip, like, you know, like the back of my hand.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: Like it's just so familiar and comfortable holding a camera.
35:24
unknown: Yeah.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: And I miss that, yeah.
35:26
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's why as well that you're a canon person.
35:30
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: But I think that's why as well.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: That's why we obviously sort of have worked really well together as well, because you understand like the photography world and how complicated it is to kind of create these things, and you know, it's that it's a level of understanding as well, isn't it, that goes into it.
35:46
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I think I mean, I think that has also made our relationship better, our working relationship, because it's easier for me to understand the limitations from your side.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: And that not only helps at the moment of the shoot, but also when I'm creating the briefs, I already know what's feasible and what isn't to some degree.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: Right?
36:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: And so I think we tend to be much more productive and effective instead of I'm assuming, because I, you know, this is you'll have to tell us, but when you have a client who knows nothing about photography and just starts asking for the most ridiculous things for a budget that is not realistic, and you have to go back to them and you say, you know, he can't do this, this, yeah.
36:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
36:33
SPEAKER_01: Funnily enough, I was having this conversation before actually saying that they were saying um what's the um what's the worst kind of client?
36:41
SPEAKER_01: Is it one that that is too demanding and knows exactly what they want, or someone who um who you know doesn't sort of know anything.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: And I said it's the ones really that that don't know anything that are harder, because you know, if somebody's if somebody's knows exactly what they want, and yes, maybe they are demanding, I'm not saying you are, but you know, say that they are quite demanding it sometimes, but uh, but you know, that's something that you can work with.
37:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
37:08
SPEAKER_01: Because obviously you know where their brain is at and what they're trying to do, and and you can help guide that, or you know, say, yeah, okay, we can do this, or I can find this, or you know, whatever the case is.
37:18
SPEAKER_01: But when somebody doesn't have a clue about what they want at all, and and you know, they don't even know where to start or understand anything about the industry, it's really tough because obviously everybody knows what they what don't like, but only when they've seen it.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're super happy to tell you that's that's not what they want, but they can't tell you what it is that they want.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
37:37
SPEAKER_00: So worst the worst.
37:40
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, um, anyway, it's been a pleasure having you on.
37:43
SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you.
37:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh thank you so much.
37:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you so much for being part of the show.
37:48
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining us on the show today.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe if you haven't already.
37:53
SPEAKER_01: And I look forward to seeing you on the next one.
37:56
SPEAKER_01: So that's ciao for now.