The sensational success of the G-Shock began in early 1994, eleven years after Casio presented the first watch under this name. But it wasn’t a big bang: everything happened quietly and secretly at first.
The Casio Marcom team, led by Heino Hilbig, had already been exploring youth trends to tap into the increasingly affluent young target audience for Casio. But the topic only gained real traction when young trendsetters in Tokyo’s trendy Shibuya district and club-goers in London, Liverpool, and New York were frequently spotted wearing G-Shocks. All signs pointed to the fact that these extraordinary Casio watches had the potential to emerge as the new trend brand in the watch market, dethroning Swatch from its leadership throne after nearly ten years.
While Swatch was on a trend of making watches ever thinner and more form-fitting—some less than 4 mm thick—the G-Shock presented itself as a provocative unisex lifestyle icon, making a statement and standing out in any case. However, Swatch’s market power seemed overwhelming, as the company had already sold its 100 millionth watch by 1992 and was, to put it colloquially, swimming in money. In contrast, Casio had only a fraction of Swatch’s budget to promote the G-Shock.
Casio, on the other hand, only had a fraction of the Swatch budget at its disposal to publicise G-Shock.Traditionally, a large-scale advertising campaign would have been organised – and the whole thing would have been accompanied by PR. However, given the limited resources, the management agreed to do everything differently for this launch and to focus entirely on press and public relations work.
Manfred Großert, now Managing Director of the international PR and marketing agency united communications, was then Casio’s press spokesman and responsible for PR communications. Together with the team, they developed and implemented a multi-stage PR campaign that consistently placed G-Shock in the context of fashion, lifestyle, and technology.
Starting in September 1994, five G-Shock mailings landed on nearly 1,000 editorial desks nationwide, each just one week apart. Actually a no-go, such a constant PR barrage; but G-Shock was different – also in its communication.
In fact, there were a few critical responses, including an angry call from NDR television. The managing editor even threatened to lodge a complaint with the Press Council because of the ‘sexist imagery’ – but she probably thought that was too silly herself.
Taking the trade with you
Simultaneously, the watch specialty trade, essential for marketing success, was trained on the upcoming innovations and equipped with exceptional POS materials. Many wondered how the branch of a Japanese watch manufacturer—known primarily for affordable digital watches and calculators—could possibly challenge Swiss Swatch’s position as the leading digital watch brand.
Casio’s answer was: “Stay tuned.” The largest and most important retailers were informed: “Save the date, October 13, 1994, and come to Hamburg.”
Casio goes fashion
It was clear that Casio could not change its image, which had been shaped for over two decades, alone. For this reason, a PR collaboration was established with avant-garde designer duo Roland Brücher and Petra Rodeck, who had united their two boutiques in the heart of Hamburg (located directly behind the “Vier Jahreszeiten” hotel) under one roof. ‘This is where those who see fashion not as a dictate or convention but as a means of personal expression meet. (…) 2bitch has now become synonymous with tracking down new trends and new designers from Germany and abroad. In addition to its own creations, it also carries the young second lines of established avant-garde fashion designers.’
The launch event
On October 13, 1994, Roland Brücher and Petra Rodeck from 2bitch, in collaboration with Casio, invited guests to the G-Shock Funky Fashion Show at Café Keese on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. The event was announced back then as follows: “G-Shock is tough, black or silver, large and different. G-Shock is the watch that isn’t hidden, not a discreet fashion accessory but a substantial, highly visible fashion statement on the wrist.” Due to necessary alterations for the presentation, only about 400 guests could be invited to the G-Shock Funky Fashion Show. Half of the tickets were sold by 2bitch to friends, acquaintances, and fashion enthusiasts, while the other half were personally invited by Casio, including many trade partners and over 150 prominent journalists from across Germany.
The team managed to secure news anchor Wilhelm Wieben as the moderator for the show. He actually arrived at Café Keese by taxi between the Tagesschau and Tagesthemen broadcasts and spoke in his unmistakable style—mind you, at an event organised by a Japanese company for international managers, fashion designers, scene-goers, and media representatives—in Low German. The room erupted when Wilhelm Wieben left the stage, and the 2bitch fashion show began—naturally, all the models wore at least one G-Shock.
The fact that watches don’t only look good on the wrist was demonstrated by fashion designer Gabriele Hunck, who designed six avant-garde outfits featuring Casio watches as the central motif.
The highlight, of course, was the obligatory bridal couple that appeared on stage at the end of the show: with the house lights off and Hildegard Knef’s “Für mich soll’s rote Rosen regnen” playing, the more than 100 G-Shocks integrated into the extravagant gowns began to light up blue simultaneously—a romantic moment that no one expected in this context and location.
Afterfold
The Funky Fashion Show laid the foundation for G-Shock’s success.
Unfortunately, the Internet was only just starting to appear in Germany in 1994, and social media did not yet exist either. The team would have loved to share the countless PR campaigns, such as an elephant stepping on a G-Shock in Hagenbeck’s zoo and dragging it across the concrete floor. The bracelet was defective afterwards – but the watch worked perfectly. Or how a retailer set up a ‘Hau-den-Lukas’ stand in front of his shop and let passers-by hit a G-Shock.
Harald Schröder, now General Division Manager Digital Marketing at Casio, was already on board in 1994 and, together with his team, has continuously expanded and perfected youth, sports and fashion marketing in particular. So it’s no wonder that 30 years after the Funky Fashion Show, G-Shock is still the world’s leading lifestyle watch series. There is no record of how many of these watches have been produced to date. The last official figure is from 2017, when the 100,000,000th G-Shock had just rolled off the production line.
