“Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication”

This is a very simple outdoor ad that is capturing some attention on Marketing Twitter. It’s for a new watch that has emerged from a partnership between Timex and the Brooklyn-based clothing company Adsum.

It’s a pretty cool-looking watch, but a lot of watch brands emphasize how cool they look.  Timex historically was positioned around durability, although it’s probably gotten pigeonholed as cheap in recent years.

But this billboard doesn’t highlight looks, durability or the benefits thereof. That would have been standard fare in the category. Instead, it answers the question of why, in 2022, you would wear a traditional watch.

Their answer is, it is a less distracting experience than getting the time from your phone or smartwatch. Coincidentally, Adsum means “I am present” in Latin, and they have engraved that phrase on the back of the watch, which complements the message on the billboard.

They have nicely captured a brand “enemy” here – all the distractions that come at us from the digital world – and have positioned their watch cleverly as a solution to that challenge.