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Luxury watchmaker Linde Werdelin launches ski guide app

Luxury sports watchmaker Linde Werdelin tapped digital agency Jigsaw to design, build and deliver a branded Ski Guide application for the iPhone and iPod touch.

The application is a mobile version of the LW ski guide books written by cofounders Jorn Werdelin and Morten Linde, offering their hand-picked favorites and insider knowledge of a ski vacation experience. The application?s purpose is to provide added-value to users with location-based and real-time services such as weather forecasts, snow alerts, geolocations and travel options. 

?As a high-end luxury lifestyle brand, Linde Werdelin?s target demographic was perfect  to associate the brand with that type of technical delivery for the iPhone, so they wanted to have an iPhone app,? said Dominic Murray, cofounder/managing director of Jigsaw, London. ?It is primarily targeted toward males.

?LW already had a high-end ski guide for resorts around Europe that their consumers were quite willing to pay for, and we could make a utility out of it,? he said. ?We digitized that content and made it available for the iPhone, because we know that people always remember to bring their mobile phones with them, and the iPhone app provides a useful utility by letting them set alerts to find resorts with fresh snow.

?The app has the added advantage of being able to display this fantastic content wherever they are.?

Linde Werdelin is a high-end watch and instrument brand offering luxury sports watches that can be worn with an attachable ski or dive instrument

The company works with professional mountaineers and divers for product testing and development. Its watch and instrument were used on the first-ever confirmed free climb to the summit of Mount Everest in 2007.

Jigsaw is part of the Mobile Interactive Group, also known as MIG.

European ski vacation
Linde Werdelin produces a ÂŁ9.99 ($15.75) printed ski guide on each of France, Italy and Switzerland, on which the iPhone application was based.

The application features the best ski routes, top hotels and dining locations, weather reports and the all-important après ski bars and lounges for 14 European resorts in France, Italy and Switzerland including Chamonix, Courmayeur and St. Moritz.

The full application is downloadable for ÂŁ5.99 ($9.50). A lite version will also available for one complete resort as a free download.

The LW application is targeted at people who enjoy a sophisticated urban lifestyle and the freedom of the mountains in the winter?skiers and snowboarders.

Jigsaw created the application to enhance consumer engagement with the brand, as many high earners are tech-savvy and own an iPhone.

The application?s back-end structure is linked to SQUA.RE, a luxury online community site, which supports the addition of new content from Linda Werdelin feeds as the season rolls out.

The application provides location-based information for ski and snowboard fanatics heading to a variety of European resorts.

The association of Linde Werdelin?s brand with skiing is a perfect fit for its target consumers, as it provides a real value-add and shows that the luxury sector is using modern technology to maximize brand and consumer engagement, according to Jigsaw.

?The loading screen has Linde Werdelin branding, but we didn?t want to force the branding so much?the brand is associating itself with a utility app that is beneficial to their consumers,? Mr. said. ?We?re promoting the app via direct mail and eCRM advertising, and we?re using Linde Werdelin?s Web site to help publicize it as well.

?We wanted to get it out to their loyal consumer base first before promoting it to a broader audience, first the free lite version then potentially come up with a rich-media ad format to promote both lite and paid versions format that allows advertisers to get communication a lot clearer in more engaging ways,? he said. ?Our sister agency Four Screen is powering a rich-media ad campaign.

?The banner ad units are typically at the top of the screen and expand, and we can enable multiple calls-to action such as click-to-video and click-to-call, and we are considering targeting lifestyle magazines and launching a Facebook page.?