Patek Philippe 

is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer founded in
1839, which is located in the Canton of Geneva and the Vallée de Joux. Patek
Philippe is one of the oldest watch manufacturers in the world with an uninterrupted
watchmaking history since its founding. It designs and manufactures timepieces as
well as movements, including some of the most complicated mechanical watches.
Patek Philippe is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious watch
manufacturers in the world, particularly with the 1925 Patek Philippe Perpetual
calendar 97975. Every mechanical watch is capable of a simple yet incredible feature,
tracking the intangible passing of time with tiny gears and springs. While a
fascination with this fact endures in the heart of every watch enthusiast, it is also
natural to seek a watch that is clever, more complex, and yet more useful. The answer
lies in perpetual calendar, a watch that just knows, magically, that the Earth orbits
around the Sun and rotates on itself. Since this watch is back in production, which
better endorser can there be compared to Malaysia’s Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad.
This will be proven in accordance to credibility, attractiveness and power.

The source of credibility is divided into 2 part which is source and information.
The source of credibility takes knowledge, skill and expertise of the endorser into
account that explains how communications persuasiveness is affected by the
perceived credibility. In this case of Patek Phillipe, using an endorser such as
Mahathir, a Malaysian politician who served as prime minister of Malaysia from
1981–2003, and again from 2018 to 2020, overseeing the country’s transition to an
industrialized nation, brings in advantages. In recent times, Mahathir has reportedly
been very vocal on social media, with 1.5 million followers on Instagram alone. Not
forgetting his presence on Twitter, which soars even more. Not too bad for a 96 year
old man. His followers are mainly millenials who share a vision and passion similar to
Mahathir, and agrees to ways of his life. Moreover, Mahathir is a watch collector
himself. He has been spotted wearing many models, particularly the Casio Protrek
Triple Sensor Tide Graph. Thus, Mahathir may understand the various types of
watches and influence the public by promoting them. In the terms of skill, Mahathir
may have studied medicine and politics but also has a fair share of experience in
business. “Dabble in business if you want to be billionaires, says Dr Mahathir”. A
person who’s had business experience most definitely knows the ways of promotion,
thus making him an appropriate endorser for Patek Phillipe.In the side of expertise,
Mahathir excels in this condition where as a politician, he has exceptional
communication skills and ability to speak in front of larges groups, ability to deal with
difficult situations and resolve matter appropriately and effectively.

The information that is categorised in credibility can be explained in 3 ways

which is trustworthy, unbiased and objective. Trustworthyness is accomplished when
the public trusts the brand ambassador when promoting the product. Having trust on
politicians is not easy, but Tun Mahathir could turn this around. In many past events,
Mahathir has fought for what’s right, giving the Malaysian citizens what they want
with fairness and trust. A good example how Mahathir can be trusted is when he
banned an advertisement of himself endorsing watches in 2019. It appears that he did
no such initiative, and came forward to the public to put an end to the advertisement,
repaying the public for the money they spent on watches with fake advertising. Next,
it is important to be unbiased towards the product. A good endorser knows that to
promote products, it would require a full disclosure, at the same time, not to put down
other brands as well. As the brand endorser, Mahathir has to highlight the specilaity of
the 1925 Patek Philippe Perpetual calendar 97975. The World's First Perpetual
Calendar Wristwatch, that went unsold and a quarter century later, this exceptional
instantaneous perpetual calendar movement designated No. 97975 was re-cased in a
beautiful yellow-gold wristwatch replete with hunter back and a large fluted crown. In
terms of objective in information, the brand endorser has to fulfil all of the above
requirements before Patek Phillipe chooses Mahathir as the brand endorser.

The process of source attractiveness is identification. Through the use of Tun

Mahathir, consumers should be able to identify with or aspire to be part of the brand.
The three subsets of attractiveness are similarity, likability and familiarity.
Attractiveness via similarity occurs when there is a resemblance between the target
audience and the source that allows the consumer to see themselves also using and
benefiting from the brand. The similarities that exists here is the age. Both the watch
and Mahathir share the same age, which is 96 years. Mahathir is portrayed as the icon
of time. Likability can result from a purely physical attraction or from other personal
and behavioral traits. Malaysia kini reported that Mlaaysian women have founf Tun
Mahathir handsome. They suppose his Indian mixed-blood descent has something to
do with it. Dr Mahathir looks dashing also because he has the height. I believe he
stands around 5ft 9in, give or take an inch. That's quite a good height for an Asian and
perhaps above average for a Malaysian. With his good looks, with the 1925 Patek
Philippe Perpetual calendar 97975 on his wrist, I believe Siti Hasmah has something
to worry about! Moreover, over the years, notable Patek Philippe patrons and
timepiece owners include Princess Diana, Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, Nelson
Mandela, and more. It is a pattern of famous people and I believe Mahathir has the
potential to hike the brand with his popularity. Source familiarity occurs through
repeated and prolonged exposure to the source of the message. I've never Tun
Mahathir personally or from a distance, but because of his activeness in social media,
I feel as if I know him. He has a tendency to post cute pictures of himself with his
wife, portraying a sweet relationship that gets everyone talking about for days. When
done well, the familiarity established by the use of the same message source over a
long period of time leads to an attraction to the brand simply because it is easily
identified.

Perceived control refers to an individual's belief about his or her own capability
of exerting influence on internal states and behaviors, as well as one's external
environment. For example, Mahathir, as a politician, has to maintain a good image on
social media to be the real and positive side on the scene and inspire people when
promoting the watch. For example, he would need to wear the watch in numerous
occasions and events to promote Patek Phillipe showing high degrees of recognition,
trust, respect and awareness amongst the public. The perceived concern of endorser
can be related to the theme of Patek Phillipe where celebrity marketers help associate
their watch with sophisticated, attractive, classy and determined people,
differentiating their brands from others. Patek Phillipe has reinvented itself through
many campaigns to bring a new and powerful image to the world, but at the same
time, maintain its quality confirming the leading position in many countries.