man Triathlon Watch and Timex progression through the 20th century is fascinating. Their success is an example of how social factors effect marketing strategies as companies reach out to shifting generations.Timex has been fortunate in it's advertising decisions over the years and it's interesting to look with hindsight at each landmark event . Every turning point in the story of Timex shows how the Timex watch came to be an American icon and an internationally famous brand by using creative marketing and risk taking.
Ingersoll-Waterbury which later became Timex, made an agreement with Walt Disney in 1933 to manufacture Mickey Mouse clocks and watches. This was risky as it was the depth of the great depression but the company was nearing bankruptcy.
Ingersoll-Waterbury took the watches and clocks to the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. They had the a small production line where people could see their Mickey Mouse watch was made in front of their eyes. They were cheap and it was a huge success. Timex made Mickey Mouse watches for many years. They're highly sought after by collectors and few of those original 1933 World's Fair watches still exist.
The first Timex wristwatch was produced in 1950. The company created a stir by providing a mechanised display which put the watch into water, then banged it with a hammer to show the durability of the watch. This was a new type of advertising and the machine was placed in drugstores and five and dime stores - today many jewellers stores show a Timex watch in a tank of water!
Timex created the "Torture Test" advertisements where their watches were put through increasingly shocking torture tests. Some of the biggest names in sports were associated with Timex watches and the famous tag line "takes a licking, keeps on ticking" came from these advertisements.
A Timex watch was repeatedly hit by Mickey Mantle during a practice session after being taped to his baseball bat in one famous example, and occasionally ordinary people would be asked to put the Timex through a washing machine or some other type of endurance testing.
1984 was an Olympic year and in that year Timex released the first Triathlon watch.
20 million dollars was spent on television advertising for the launch of the Triathlon watch. Using the formula from the Torture Test ads, these new ads showed the watches strength and new 50 metre diving capability.
The watch sold well and the company decided to test the market further by taking a more sophisticated version of the watch to the Ironman Triathlon contest in Hawaii the following year. The prototype Ironman Triathlon watch sold out fast and 8 years after the Ironman race commenced Timex announced it would be the major sponsor. Beginning in 1986.In 1986 when the very first Timex Ironman watch was released for the race, an anonymous donor had given prize money of $100,000 to the race and the publicity surrounding the gift created a massive increase in entrants and publicity for the race.
As a result of their relationship with the race and trademarking of the Ironman name in connection with their watch and the event, Timex re branded themselves as the world leader in sports watches. They continued to produce tough, indestructible watches at reasonable prices and have never stopped adding innovative useful sports functions to them.
In 1992 the Indiglo technology was introduced. Electroluminescent technology allowed the Indiglo Night-Light to glow with luminescent colour. Providing campers and sportsmen with an easy to read watch face no matter how dark.
Fortune and Business Week named Indiglo a product of the year in 1993 and soon 75% of Timex watches used Indiglo technology and sales rocketed.
Sales of Timex watches reached over 1 billion internationally by 2003. The old Timex slogan of "Takes a licking, keeps on ticking" was was replaced by "Life is Ticking" in keeping with the companies more modern profil
e for the 21st century.Timex continues to bring innovation to the sports watch world - recently releasing the IControl Ironman Triathlon Watch, which allows the wearer to control their IPod from the watch.
