Rolex, Roger Federer, and the Definition of Greatness
Debating who the greatest player of all time is has always been a classic among many sports fans. Tennis has not escaped the grueling conversation, especially since the moment the sport was submerged into its golden era at the hands of the three most successful men to ever hold a racket: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Of these three, Roger Federer, fancily known as the Swiss Maestro given the patent grace of his movement and skills on the court, was the first one to “hatch” as a world-number-one-level player on the international tennis panorama. His unprecedented success in the early 2000s accompanied by the trademark elegance with which he played, earned him the admiration of the vast majority of tennis fans, who viewed him as the sport’s hero for revolutionalizing and popularizing a game that was reaching a stalemate scenario in terms of entertainment. This catapulted the Swiss to become Rolex’s most valuable asset and global ambassador as he epitomized the elegance and the success that served as the motto of the prestigious firm. Rolex fed off of the rhetorical situation of tennis’ impending doom, to give rise to the commonplace of greatness lying on the numbers. In their “Wimbledon 2010” advert, the firm explored this idea to dovetail the successful figure of Federer with their watches, by capitalizing on a kairotic moment, employing visual rhetoric elements such as perspective to build persuasion and pathetic appeal, and challenging well-established commonplaces as a common thread in the commercial. Similar rhetorical techniques were used in the firm’s most recent advert “Numbers Don’t Matter,” in which they surprisingly refute the commonplace they themselves established in the 2010 commercial, responding to a completely inverted rhetorical situation where Federer’s greatest rivals Nadal and Djokovic have matched the Swiss’ Grand Slam records and eclipsed many of his most valuable records. Employing similar rhetorical strategies Rolex adapts to divergent contexts in order to preserve its status as the “greatest of all time.”
In both the “Wimbledon 2010” and “Numbers Don’t Matter” adverts, Rolex seizes a kairotic moment to urge people not to forget the historic achievements behind Federer’s and their watches’ figures. In the ever-changing worlds of sports and fashion, success is ephemeral and tends to fade from the public’s memory as new names emerge. When Rolex launched their Wimbledon-special advert in 2010, a year where Federer’s greatest declared rival Rafael Nadal was having one of the greatest tennis seasons ever, the motivation was to redirect the public’s attention to the man—Federer— that, despite not being world number 1 at the moment, was still in possession of many of the sport’s greatest records and was in contention for yet another. The Swiss Maestro had lifted the Wimbledon trophy—for many the most prestigious of the all tournaments— six times coming into The Championships in 2010 and thus had the opportunity of claiming a record-tying seventh. Responding to this transcendental kairotic moment, Rolex crafted a commercial with great emphasis on Federer’s historic achievements which Rolex believed rememorating them would help them reclaim. The 30-second advert was an overwhelmingly fast-paced video showing alternating images of Rolex watches tick from the first to the sixth hour and all of Federer’s Wimbledon trophy lifts. This forced the public to relive the days when the Swiss Maestro monopolized the sport’s most important trophies and also pushed the spotlight away from Nadal. The condensing of images into such a short period of time along with the “epic” music in the background and the always stressful image of a clock ticking, was how Rolex smartly created the sense of urgency in a public they wanted to remind who “the greatest” still was. They awakened the audience from a kairotic moment they considered extraordinary and a wrong reflection of reality, where Nadal and the watches he wore skyrocketed in popularity. By including the phrase “A crown for every achievement,” at the end, Rolex was also included at the end to convince the audience Rolex, much like Federer, was still at the top in terms of greatness.
Much like the 2010 advert, the “Numbers Don’t Matter” commercial is constructed to provoke an urgent shift of attention from the public to relive the historic achievements that enlarged Federer’s greatness. This was also accomplished by speeding up the unfolding of events in the video in what evidenced a sense of urgency in the firm’s claims. Images changed extremely rapidly from Federer holding trophies to groundstrokes of extreme beauty. This way, Rolex seized the kairotic moment with Djokovic and Nadal eclipsing Federer while he’s off the court, by reminding how the latter’s game has been unique from the rest. While the 2010 advert fed off of Federer’s unique achievements, “Numbers Don’t Matter” focuses on the uniqueness of his game style to convey the immense history behind his name. With these snapshots of the past, the ad forces the public to not question Federer as “the greatest” regardless of the context. With the advert, people are given the opportunity of witnessing the Swiss’ magic with the racket to make a hypothetical argument against him more hollow and challenging. Ultimately both commercials are constructed to reinforce Federer and Rolex’s fading achievements by seizing a kairotic moment as a means of reshifting the public’s focus.
In order to build persuasion and increase pathetic appeal, Rolex juggles with visual rhetoric elements such as perspective and thematic imagery. The “Wimbledon 2010” commercial was solely dedicated to regaining the attention of a general public that had “discovered” Rafael Nadal and everything he wore, including his trademark Richard Mille watches, as newborn icons. To accomplish this, Rolex designs an advert that focuses on two images only; a ticking watch and Roger Federer lifting Wimbledon trophies. This is done to create a sense of nostalgia in the audience as they relieve one by one of all of Federer’s accomplishments in the sport’s most famous court. Bringing back the heroic Federer in the spot, evidences how Rolex uses an appeal to pathos and nostalgia to not just remind people of the transcendency of Federer’s figure, but also evoke a sense of admiration for him and, ergo, Rolex watches too. In the commercial, the imagery revolves around the themes of success and greatness as pertaining to Roger Federer, due to the fact the watchmaker firm knew that at the moment, the Swiss was irrefutably the most achieved tennis player of all time. This was the only argument everybody knew belonged to Federer in the “greatest of all time conversation,” hence this visual rhetoric element also demonstrates the creator’s exercise of reading the audience. By not focusing on ambiguous or controversial claims, the advert would consequently pathetically appeal to a greater public, something fundamental before the launching of the new Rolex and the start of what could’ve been a historic Wimbledon.
This same strategy was employed and even elevated in the “Numbers Don’t Matter” commercial. The Geneva-based watchmaker weaved a sequence of images with a clear thematic change as the advert unfolded. Starting focused on success, with images of trophy lifts, it rapidly moves to cover tcof elegance and off-court paramountcy, transitioning to clips of graceful groundstrokes and off-court campaigns. This also responds to the firm’s exercise of reading the audience, as they understood the unity of the public lay in the ideas of elegance and philanthropy rather than statistical achievements. Responding to the rhetorical situation of Federer’s reign collapsing at the hands of Djokovic and Nadal, Rolex intelligently uses the visual rhetoric in the 2021 advert to make arguments that are nearly impossible to rebut. This way, the video forces the audience to unconsciously forget the context that may be wearing down Federer’s figure as a hero and undisputed icon. Another way in which the “Numbers Don’t Matter” advertisement builds persuasion in favor of Federer’s “greatest of all time” claim is by utilizing different perspectives throughout the minute-and-a-half-long spot. In contrast with the “Wimbledon 2010” advert, this new one covered similar images from completely different angles and perspectives to demonstrate Rolex’s willingness for the public to view the GOAT debate from different points of view. Instead of simply showing frontal shots of Federer lifting the trophy, the newer ad covers Federer rallies from above, behind, in front… all perspectives imaginable. From the newly launched 2021 watch, also present in the commercial, we not only see the numbers, rather multiple points of view of the whole design. This emphasis on the “bigger picture” and on different perspectives is how Rolex implicitly encourages the Federer-skeptics to challenge their arguments by exploring different approaches such as on and off-court elegance. After all, well-roundedness and class are what have set Roger Federer and Rolex apart from their rivals.
Both in the “Wimbledon 2010” and “Number Don’t Matter” adverts, the challenging of well-established commonplaces serves as the primary narrative and ultimate goal for Rolex. Prior to the start of Wimbledon in July 2010, history and career accomplishment were not viewed as important as current standing in the world rankings. Tennis was more about the moment than it was about the history. With the launching of the first of the two commercials in question, Rolex challenged this preconceived notion about success and introduced the element of time and historic transcendence into the equation. The ad features images of a victorious Federer in past Wimbledon editions and a watch, specifically its numbers and clock hands. The inclusion of the latter is to put heavy emphasis on time and make the public vision Federer’s accomplishments as not only moments that happen in the present and fade, but also as specific instances in sports history. With the introduction of this nuance to a popular commonplace at the time, Rolex made Federer’s figure elevate over the rest, given the Swiss’ unrivaled past successes. With this commonplace modification, the watchmaker firm hopes the public starts giving greater value to who is more historic, or who has done more up to that point, than to whoever monopolizes the present. Taking time and historic transcendence into account, both Federer and Rolex maximize their opportunities of remaining perpetually great.
The “Numbers Don’t Matter” advert is even more explicit with its challenging of an even more ingrained commonplace in society. With the already mentioned changing imagery in the commercial, Rolex conveys this idea of modernizing the well-established commonplace in sports that greatness solely lied in numbers. Whenever the firm recognized Djokovic and Nadal’s statistical superiority over their brand icon, they rapidly constructed this advert to question the value of numbers in the greatest of all time debate. Their intention is to stigmatize the numbers-based argument as a superficial claim, and, on the other hand, transition to the commonplace of elegance and off-court class as a more accurate measure of greatness. Diverging from the 2010 video, nonetheless, this time Rolex took the risk of being even more explicit on their criticism of such an extended commonplace. This is showcased in the video by the inclusion of phrases like the following: “How exactly do we measure greatness? By the number of titles? By the number of Grand Slams? Maybe. But not only,” or “Roger Federer’s legacy will prove more perpetual than any number.” By verbally expressing their criticism of a vastly accepted commonplace rather than hinting their disagreement with images or perspective shifts, Rolex’s message in the “Numbers Don’t Matter” advert becomes even more resounding than in the “Wimbledon 2010” one. Ultimately, the refinement of the greatness and success commonplace to include elegance and off-court class is the primary strategy employed by Rolex to sustain their firm and their icon’s legacy.
sauce made of tuna (yes, beef and tuna in the same dish), a good deal of olive oil, anxovies (tuna was obviously not enough…), and capers. Then, decorate with capers, basil leaves, or really whatever you think complements the dish. The unique combination of the intense flavors of the tuna, anxovies, capers, and the beef, render one of Italy’s star antipasti (the Italian term for a starter dish).
such extreme quality that you can literally eat them bite by bite. I’ve had the privilege of doing so and believe me, if you close your eyes while eating one of those lemons, you could get tricked into thinking you’re actually biting into a lemon cake or buiscuit. Don’t get carried away by their unorthodox bumpy appearance.
adding all the ingredients at an overwhelmingly high speed, is an experience of its own. And the odds that you’ll see him with a cigarette in his mouth as he rushes through the entire process are also extremely high, serving as a reminder that Naples and the Amalfi coast are one of those places where time seems to have anchored in the 80s. After the pizzero’s show, enjoying the pizza is everything that’s left. I’ll leave this to your imagination…