Hublot kicks off “Hublot Loves Football” campaign

As the FIFA World Cup Brazil™ teams get ready for goals, Hublot, Swiss luxury watch maker and the Official Timekeeper and Official Watch of FIFA World Cup 2014, ardently welcomes the FIFA World Cup Brazil™ by kicking off the “Hublot Loves Football” campaign today in Hong Kong, starting with a one-month exhibition of Hublot’s timepieces at the prestigious Prince Club Lounge in Tsim Sha Tsui.

As a pioneering luxury brand to support football, Hublot brings the World Cup heat to all leading cities worldwide. For the game-changer of this year’s revelry, Hublot teamed up with world-renowned football legends, brand ambassadors and friends in a campaign shot by Swiss photographer Fred Merz, starring Hublot FIFA World Cup Brazil™ brand ambassador Pelé, legendary coaches Marcello Lippi, José Mourinho, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Roy Hodgson, leading football clubs Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich.

This is a series of striking and exceptional portraits which reveals them as they've never been seen before. Each photo portrays the unique personality of the person or group. All of the images tell a story by capturing moments of closeness between the ambassador and the Hublot team: Pelé, the King of Football, was photographed on a stair landing in a fashionable Ipanema hotel in Rio, revealing his kindness and attesting to a strength and fitness extraordinary for his age. José Mourinho, also known as The Special One, was photographed surrounded by clocks in a shadowy basement during a visit to the Hublot manufacture in Switzerland, while the Juventus players were beautifully captured in high spirits the day after their match against Fiorentina. The Paris Saint-Germain team are portrayed on the turf at their training centre, as the sun momentarily breaks through the clouds during a rainy afternoon just long enough to capture the photo.

The offbeat yet respectful photos were taken by Fred Merz, a Swiss freelance photographer who lives in Geneva. With numerous photographic exhibitions to his name, his portraits and journalistic photos, whose lighting and approach are instantly recognisable, are used by some of the world's biggest media companies. Renowned and much in demand for his portraiture talents, Fred Merz casts an aesthetically astute eye over the world - a world he illuminates in such a way as to produce almost cinematic compositions featuring exquisitely constructed images.

Each photo bears Hublot's symbol for the FIFA World Cup: a football painted and decorated by the renowned artist Romero Britto, a Brazilian painter and sculptor whose work combines elements of Pop Art, Cubism and graffiti., The campaign links all those big names involved in the project will soon embrace the city to stir up the intensity of exhilaration as Hublot’s totem for the FIFA World Cup.

The first to stimulate the fervor is the “Hublot Loves Football – 2014 World Cup” exhibition at the prestigious Prince Club Lounge, showcasing the Official Timekeeper and the Offical Watch of FIFA World Cup 2014. This 2,000 square-foot intimate space on the second level of Prince Jewellery and Watch Peking Road Shop in Tsim Sha Tsui is turned into a zealous ‘football-sphere’ that welcomes all football and watch-making enthusiasts. The iconic football totem and Hublot’s signature monograms all around the space indulge visitors in an extraordinary spectrum where nothing but activeness triumphs. Merz’s offbeat but respective photographic work graces the walls, whilst the actual Official Watch and Official Timekeeper admired by these legends are present to marvel visitors. The exhibition also features a Hublot football game machine in the lounge area to let visitors have a taste of the excitement in a game.

“Hublot Loves Football – 2014 FIFA World Cup” Exhibition
Date:   1st to 30th June, 2014
Time:   11:30am – 9:30pm
Venue: Prince Club Lounge, 2/F, Bo Yip Building, 10 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

June 13, 2014