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A MOUNTED show jumper leaps from one skyscraper roof to another. An athlete hurdles a razor blade. A relay runner slips his team partner a stick of dynamite. A swimmer is chased by a pack of sharks.

TAG Heuer's latest advertising campaign certainly keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. And so it should.

For the print media campaign, US$1 million (HK$7.74 million) was spent on some of the world's most renowned photographers. Filming the TV commercial cost twice as much.

  The entire advertising campaign, screen time and space in publications in 40 countries, cost a whopping US$40 million.

But where is the watch? Amid these stunning visuals, the TAG Heuer logo makes a fleeting appearance, but only at the end.

Apart from that, the viewer is left pondering the message: 'Success - It's A Mind Game' - the theme for TAG Heuer's campaign.

The fact that TAG Heuer makes the world's best-selling sports watch is not mentioned at all.

It is all subliminal, but then so is the watch industry. Few other products are sold so exclusively on the strength of their advertisements.

 Think Rolex and you are likely to recall images of eccentric British explorers trudging to the North Pole. Mention Cartier and elegance springs to mind, usually in the shape of a stunning model in a ballgown.

  TAG Heuer, on the other hand, is the official timekeeper for the Formula One Grand Prix and the World Cup skiing where split-second timing is of the essence.

TAG Heuer also sponsors the annual Four Peaks Race in Hong Kong and backed New Zealander Chris Dickson's challenge for the America's Cup earlier this year.

   So, TAG Heuer aligns itself not only with hi-tech timekeeping but sport in general - and particularly glamorous sport.

 But where does this leave 'Success - It's A Mind Game'?  As marketing manager Philippe Champion put it: 'Creatively, the campaign tries to capture an attitude that is aspirational and fits within a sporting context.

  'As a result, a platform of mental strength was developed, based on the recognition that the difference between success and failure lies within oneself.

  'Winners create their own imaginary pressure in order to win. TAG Heuer associates itself with such an attitude, presenting it in a prestigious way.'  So what the visuals aim to do is demonstrate the power of the imagination to push athletes that extra mile.

   Working out what it has to do with a watch has to be 'decoded' by the viewer.

 'Sport remains at the core of the brand,' Mr Champion said. 'Sport is used as a metaphor for life, allowing TAG Heuer to address prestige in a modern, less overt way - as status through achievement.

 'In this sense, TAG Heuer prestige is different from other 'establishment' brands. It offers aspirational status deeply rooted in attitudes rather than symbols. Sportsmen know the difference between success and failure lies within themselves. And such thinking in sport has a much wider social appeal.'   The commercial has already won an award at this year's Cannes International Advertising Festival. A seven-minute promotional film supporting the campaign, titled 'Mind Games', also earned two prizes at the Biarritz Film Festival.

 The public may be fascinated, but questions are already being asked about the campaign's impact, particularly in Hong Kong where success is most frequently defined as making pots of money.

 One advertising industry specialist has already advised TAG Heuer to take a slightly different tack and develop a local angle.

   An executive with the TAG Heuer campaign confided: 'For example, with the relay runner, the suggestion is that a bundle of stock certificates might have more of an impact than a baton made of dynamite.

  'It's an idea that is being discussed. We need something Hong Kong people can relate to,' he said.



Success - it's all in the mind