Page 4 - March 2020

who’s who in retail

MEETS

Nicola

Andreatta

CEO OF ROGER DUBUIS

Q. What are your key objectives over the next 12 months? Q. What do you make of social media and its prominent rise
A. Overall, I would say I spent my first year better understanding the in importance over the last few years?
company and the brand, I wanted to ensure I understood all of the A. From a business perspective, social media is a way to show our
nuances of Roger Dubuis. We want to continue doing a great job in desired audience the experience behind watchmaking. Living larger
terms of branding and positioning the company, which is something than life is our motto and social networks are the best channel to
I am working on with my new marketing director. We’ve reached the express that and to connect to people.
conclusion of promoting Roger Dubuis more and promoting it as the
most exciting way to experience Haute Horlogerie. The second point Q. Sort of a more personal question to you – what would you
is to find a way to adapt the company to be more agile, a perfect consider to be your career highlights to date?
machine and resilient machine given the state of the market today. A. I created my own brand so I had the opportunity to work in many
Q. What key leadership skills do you feel are the most departments of the watchmaking world. I feel the capacity to adapt to
important in the current retail climate? very different environments, this I consider to be an achievement and
A. Given the change in paradigm, what I think is important is the knowledge highlight as well.
of the digital landscape and the ability to use that. Further important skills
for the retail leader is a deep understanding of the international context Q. How are you feeling about the 12 months ahead?
and international experience is an excellent asset. The last one is to be A. Very positive. Roger Dubuis is a brand that offers a different
curious, open-minded and have the ability to look at the world from different perspective of watchmaking. We do expressive and contemporary
perspectives, to go different ways and not follow what has come before. Haute Horlogerie. Since the very begining, we have this nonconformist
and indomitably free-spirited attitude that shatter every known
Q. When making key strategic decisions, what proportion of watchmaking cliché, and this is the way we are approaching the future
the decision do you feel is fact based using the knowledge you as well. We have the right weapons for it.
have and what proportion do you feel is instinctual?
A. You need to have a good balance between both and depending on the Q. Do you have any words of warning for the industry?
situation you probably rely more on facts or more on your guts sometimes. I A. In terms of the watch industry, I read recently about Apple producing
feel like if you want to be a visionary or you want to really promote innovation more watches than the whole Swiss watch industry. Everybody talks
and change, the instinctive part takes precedence over the data, it’s about about that in terms of a big defeat but I think this is totally wrong. I
daring and especially at Roger Dubuis this is very much the way we do things. think we do completely different things, so I cannot compare these
Q. Can a leader be transformational and authentic, and who two worlds. I think Apple watches should be associated to telephones,
is your favourite example of such a leader? not watches. So, if there is some kind of warning, the warning is not to
A. Well, the transformational attitude is a goal for everybody, and I see consider those as our competitors.
in the word authentic more important values which have to do also
with for example empathy. I’m very much for empowering, sharing and Q. Any final thoughts or anything else you would like to add?
so this kind of collective intelligence to me is a key way of working A. I always invite people to get closer to our world so they will
together to build something to all go in the same direction. As for an discover more about Roger Dubuis as a brand that does expressive
example, Elon Musk would be the one, the kind of person to look at and contemporary Haute Horlogerie. We are transforming the way
when you think about transformation and authenticity. of making watches and I think it’s worth exploring for all the readers.

04 RETAIL & LEISURE INTERNATIONAL MARCH 2020