The way Hublot stuck to our tongues
Spira Tlhankane | Friday March 31, 2017 15:58
Besides affordability, the names of these products never really stick to our tongues because nobody ever asks about what or whom we wear. But celebrities, especially in the music and fashion industry, shamelessly endorse products and their fans end up buying the promoted brand out of inspiration.
From cars to clothes and watches, songs that promote products and brands have been there for years and its nothing new.
When Mantshwabisi twins formerly known as Kwaito Weapons released their song entitled Mantshwabisi inspired by the heroics of the Nissan Hardbody at the Toyota 1000km Desert Race in 2003, the song became an instant hit and more Batswana started to buy the speedy 4x4 vehicle at the time.
They were not sponsored by the brand, but as creative artists Kago and Kagiso had no hesitation when it came to promoting the product that they liked. The car was later given the nickname ‘Mantshwabisi’ by adoring fans. We all know celebrities and their love for pricey designer clothes but it has become prevalent to promote these products in some way.
But the power of advertising through music has grown more and more classy through the years. In America, fashion brands like Gucci and Versace are consistently referenced in rap and hip-hop songs.
Recently, in her new song popular local musician Charma Gal mentioned a Swiss watch brand called Hublot, which represent the Art of Fusion in watches. Although she is known for her creativity especially in story telling and lyricism, Charma Gal took a promotional push that has gone beyond just the short reference in the song.
Perhaps, most of hers fans did not know about the watch until she mentioned it in the song entitled Mmokolodi. Some even made a little research to find out about the watch that has the ability to “twist” somebody’s “intestines”.
Hublot is a Swiss watch company founded in 1980 by Italian Carlo Crocco. In 2005, the debut of the Hublot Big Bang chronograph tripled sales and received multiple awards for its design. Hublot currently produces one of the world’s most expensive watches, the Hublot Big Bang which costs $5 million. Beyonce once gave Jay-Z a $5 million Hublot Big Bang for his 43rd birthday in 2012.
Hublot was the Official Timekeeper of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, which was one of the largest televised events in the world.
But according to the story narrated by Charma Gal in her song, the guy did not actually buy the watch for her but the impression grew after she saw the man from Mmokolodi wearing the expensive timepiece.
Even though she has explained that the man mentioned in the lyrics is only fictional, at the beginning of the song she asks men out there to present their wrists so she could check for something, “Banna phakamisang matsogo, ke cheka something.”
The interest in seeing men’s hands is mainly to check whether they are wearing the ideal Hublot watch which according to her is one of the qualities of her perfect man.
Besides the physical traits and the Audi Q7 that is owned by the song persona, Charma Gal endorses the watch as one of the traits that made the man to fill up her bowl, “tlatsa sekotlele”. “Selo se rwele Hublot ngwana ke wena”, she adoringly described the sight of that Swiss timepiece on the man’s hand.
A man’s watch makes a statement about the kind of man he is and mostly women can tell a lot about a man from his chosen timepiece.
With the unexpected attention that came with the song, it might as well have come as an indirect endorsement of the Swiss watch. But for men who care about their social status, the Hublot reference in the Mmokolodi song might as well fuel men’s desire for expensive mechanical timepieces.