Waterford Crystal triangle panel for New Year's Eve Ball
Irish crystal-maker Waterford Crystal is aiming to increase brand awareness by publicizing its involvement in New York’s New Year’s Eve celebration through social media updates that explore facets of the brand’s connection to the Times Square Ball.
The brand is using multiple posts on its Facebook page to promote its new 10-year “Greatest Gifts Collection” inspired by the theme of the 2014 Waterford Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball. With the New Year’s Eve Ball at the forefront of the collection’s promotions, Waterford is likely to appeal to consumers excited for the new year and who may have been unaware of the company’s role in New York’s annual celebration.
“Waterford is at the center of some of the world’s most beautiful and thrilling events, most notably Times Square New Year’s Eve where we’ve celebrated with billions of revelers all around the globe for nearly 15 years – how many brands get to do that?” said Regan Iglesia, vice president of marketing at Waterford, New York. ”It’s impossible to monetize such an incredible experience.”
New beginnings
On Dec. 26, Waterford began promoting its affiliation with New York’s New Year’s Eve event held in Times Square. The crystal-maker featured two posts that showed both the historic relevance of its partnership with New York’s ball drop and its latest gift collection inspired by that participation.
One post includes a Times Square Ball retrospective video. The video begins with a shimmering Times Square Ball as the narrator states that “nothing signifies celebration like Waterford” and notes that for a more than a decade revelers have celebrated the new year in the United States under a New Year’s Ball crafted out of Waterford crystal.
New Year’s Eve Ball retrospective video post on Facebook
The approximately four-and-half-minute video details the iconic ball’s history beginning roughly a hundred years ago. Since its inaugural year in 1907, the Ball has grown in size, stature and materials used.
Waterford’s Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball
For the millennium celebration, Waterford redesigned the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball to be six feet in diameter and covered with 672 crystal triangles. In 2008, to signify the 100th anniversary of the original ball drop, Waterford redesigned the Ball again to include 2,668 crystal triangles, double the size of the 2000 edition.
Triangle crystal panel that makes up the Ball
The video concludes with an overview of Waterford’s latest gift series the Greatest Gift Collection. The 10-year series includes stemware, ornaments and crystalware with a correlating gift theme, such as imagination for 2014 or fortitude for 2015.
The 2014 Greatest Gift Collection
Each year in the collection is represented by a signature crystal cut design. These yearly designs are then incorporated into the panels of the New Year’s Eve Ball.
The retrospective video can be viewed here.
Additional posts on Waterford’s Facebook page includes the crystal-maker’s work with St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and patient Coraliz who designed a crystal triangle panel that will be incorporated into the 2014 New Year’s Eve Ball.
Coraliz’s panel on Facebook
Waterford will also include a crystal triangle for brand ambassador and artisan Jim O’Leary who passed away in 2013. Mr. O’Leary’s triangle, designed by his family members, will remain a part of the New Year’s Eve Ball for years to come.
A toast to the new year
Meanwhile, Champagne brands have long been associated with New Year’s Eve celebrations.
For example, LVMH-owned Champagne producer Moët & Chandon is looking to be a part of consumers’ New Year’s celebrations with a banner advertisement on New York magazine’s The Cut.
Moët & Chandon’s mobile ad is a continuation of its Moët Moment social media campaign, and links to the brand’s Facebook application that allows consumers to submit their own moment. This ad’s timing and call to action could increase fan engagement and help Moët stay top-of-mind as consumers are planning their New Year’s Eve 2013 parties (see story).
Unlike Champagne brands that seem to have a topical stronghold over the holiday, it may prove difficult for Waterford to build awareness through New Year’s Eve.
“Over the long haul, they could [build awareness], but it’s not very likely,” said Rob Frankel, branding expert at marketing consultancy firm Frankel & Anderson, Los Angeles.
“Champagne brands have tried for decades to own New Year’s Eve, with many of them spending the bulk of their ad budgets on the last three weeks of the calendar year,” he said.” I don’t know that any have enjoyed lasting success.
“For large-scale projects to benefit a brand, both the brand and the project have to enjoy well-constructed, symbiotic brand strategies and I haven’t seen either in this arena.”
If Waterford maintains momentum for the Greatest Gift Collection and its incorporation into a the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball it may leave more of an impression on consumers.
“Assuming that Waterford is playing the obvious ‘everyone drinks Champagne at midnight’ meme, I’m guessing their angle is to address young people who are entering the market,” Mr. Frankel said.
“After all, it’s young, single people, usually close to 21, who celebrate New Year’s Eve the most because it’s a social event,” he said. “Married and older people often don’t celebrate, or if they do, they’re someplace else.
“Waterford wants long-term customers and the younger they get them, the longer they can have them.”
Final Take
Jen King, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York