Panerai welcomed internationally recognized entrepreneur, investor, and business advisor Jeremy Jauncey as its global ambassador. The award-winning strategist and creative force for travel businesses, Jauncey is changing the world one step at a time. He appreciates the beauty in the world, states sustainability as the only way forward, and embeds his ideas through his wanderlust-inducing social media. LuxuryLaunches gets talking to the champion of travel, positioning sustainable measures in place, all while looking dashing with that Panerai on his wrist –
1. Congratulations on joining the team of Panerai’s global ambassador. The luxury watchmaker has long been associated with adventure, you have one of the most influential voices in the travel industry, and the partnership was announced on World Oceans Day. It looks like fate is at play. But tell us, how has the experience been for you this past year?
Jeremy: I feel very fortunate to talk about Panerai. I feel like I’ve been part of their family for many years. Many wouldn’t know I had a relationship with Panerai, a non-professional one, with love for the brand and friends working with Panerai across different regions worldwide and then professionally. The brand began talking about putting sustainable efforts in place, while I learned about my voice and ambitions to support the brand, and we came together on board. The last year has been fantastic. So many things have moved forward in sustainable watchmaking. So many other brands are building on top of the amazing work Panerai has done. Panerai has offered open-source access to everything we have learned in the backend and made the whole system available to the watch industry. It’s truly been a great first year.
2. What about Panerai resonates most with you. Could you share your thoughts?
Jeremy: Everybody has a personal connection to the first watch they wear or like, and I was very lucky with Panerai. A very close friend’s father had gifted him a Panerai when we were young. So I was aware of the brand at a young age but not in a position to earn one till I became more well established in my career. My first watch was a Panerai GMT, but I have enjoyed many products set within the brand since then. Each time you try on new Panerai watches, it comes to the story. In day-to-day life, traveling or even a business meeting, you meet someone also wearing a Panerai. It’s like a natural icebreaker and a chance to talk to somebody with the same values or interests. That’s one of the things I love about the brand.
3. With Beautiful Destinations, you gave your 30 million followers on social media and the world a new perspective on travel and sustainability. What can they expect with Panerai? What has been your most exciting project with Panerai?
Jeremy: It has been a huge honor for me to be a part of the brand, to talk about the suitable initiatives and create content with Panerai. I am meeting like-minded individuals talking about their sustainability stories; being a part of that has been very important for me. It began with the launch of the Panerai eSteel and continues with the launch of submersible products that are more and more sustainable. After implementing more of the eSteel technology and the manufacturing processes that the business has been working on, we will see many more products within the Panerai family following these practices. That is incredibly exciting.
4. Could you throw some light on what environmentally sustainable practices the world of luxury will be seen through your association with Panerai?
Jeremy: One thing I have noticed that’s been most helpful for me, even during my own travels, is the change in packaging. I saw a new form of packaging for the watch that replaces the beautiful but large and heavy wooden boxes that are not easy to travel around with. There is now a much smaller, built to be sustainable using recycled material box which is easy to carry around. That’s the first thing I can talk about, but more will unfold soon.
5. You don many hats- entrepreneur, travel influencer, environmental changemaker. Which role describes you best and is closest to you?
Jeremy: I feel very passionate about the audience that we built with Beautiful Destinations and the ability to create content and inspire people. Travel is an inspiring force that many people not only understand but also get excited about. Getting people out in the world and exploring with a positive mindset and positive frame of mind is incredibly powerful. To transfer that into an act of about why you should care about the places you travel to, think about sustainability, and positively impact the environment are things that mean most to me. I want people to think about this when they think of me.
6. As the ambassador of the World Wildlife Fund and GoldStandard.org. What kind of a future do you envision?
Jeremy: Well, I hope that it’s the kind of future when people realize the awareness of the issue we face and the difference a single individual can make in the climate crisis we face. I advocate the hope that a single individual can make a difference. When I started Beautiful Destinations, one person followed us, which became two, ten, and over 40 million people. When it comes to how we can take this message out to the world with a brand like Panerai is that they have so much power over culture, influential people who love the brand, wear the brand, talk about the brand, and one of the first in the watchmaking industry to step forward and say we deeply care about the future, so we are going to open source and make available to everyone how we are going to make amazing beautiful timepieces while caring about the environment.
7. What, according to you, is the future of travel?
Jeremy: I’d love it to be regenerative travel in an idealistic world. In the few decades, we have been aware of sustainable travel. It certainly hasn’t been implemented in a more mainstream way. With the pandemic and people being stuck at home, the desire to travel is higher than ever. Perhaps the awareness of how to do so in a way that protects the environment is not as heightened as it could be. If we continued to run things in the travel industry as they have been in the past, then things would be much worse. Sustainable travel doesn’t improve the situation, but it doesn’t worsen it. With regenerative travel, the tourist makes most of the assets built in the countries and empowers the people who work to take better care of their environment. It means you leave a more positive impact on the place you travel to, and that’s the place I’d love to see. A few destinations are leaning into this, setting an example and showing that regenerative travel can be profitable for entrepreneurs and business leaders. And it can be enjoyable for consumers yearning for unforgettable travel experiences. At the same time, it can be personally and economically fulfilling for the community of the destinations. That’s the core of how regenerative travel actually works.
8. What are your thoughts on sustainability and luxury travel co-existing?
Jeremy: I do, but I don’t think it is achievable in the way we have done it in the past. There are some fundamental changes to consumer mindsets and the way we operate. The first thing is to be aware of their impact and measure it. It’s never been easier than just going on to WWF, where you see the different components of your life that impact your carbon footprint. Once you have that measurement, you can address how to bring that data down. These are the first few steps people can embrace to understand their impact and travel more sustainably. The luxury industry can help its consumers to become more educated. That’s exactly what Panerai has done. It is not just a marketing tool to sell more watches. But it is deeply inherited in the business from backend manufacturing processes to how the offices are run. It is embedded internally within us.
9. What did the pandemic affect more? The entrepreneur or your life as a travel influencer who could no longer travel?
Jeremy: Certainly the last one. In many ways, it was a huge blessing in disguise to be in a lockdown, spend time with family, and reflecting what is important to me. I hope to inspire people to travel more and get out into the world to explore, especially with so much disagreement in the world and conversations going negatively. Travel is the equalizer that allows people to realize that your skin color or where you come from and your religion don’t matter. Travel shows you it doesn’t matter- so not being able to travel has its positives but some negatives. The business was challenging at the beginning as an entrepreneur in travel, which was one of the worst-hit industries. Fortunately, now things are getting back to what they were.
10. Do you have a favorite destination? What excites you most about a new place?
Jeremy: It is the idea of connecting with people that excites me most. Since I started Beautiful Destinations, it’s the idea of going to another part of the world where I don’t know the people, I don’t know the culture or the norms of their lives, but I’m open, and I want to learn. What has been most rewarding rather than a single destination is seeing a place on our Instagram that we have featured, getting millions of people engaged and saying they love it, that it inspired them to travel, and then actually go there myself and see it firsthand. In India, where I have been many times, I see so much content around. When I experienced it myself, the Holi festival meant so much more. The Indian community has been amazing and supportive, and I am grateful.
11. Other than traveling, what are your hobbies? How does Jeremy Jauncey unwind?
Jeremy: Sports and exercise have been a huge part of my life. When I was younger, my ambition was to be a professional rugby player. I played for Scotland and then moved to New Zealand and played there. It’s one of the best places in the world for anyone interested in sports and learning and growing, and that has continued to be a huge personal passion. I do enjoy reading and am always up for recommendations. I have been reading a lot about history and politics which are subjects I haven’t explored until the pandemic when I found the time to read.
