Modern Jewelry Trends

How much does the average wedding cost today? Some recent surveys have suggested that it’s about the cost of a car. Three recent highly-publicized surveys placed the average cost between $26,800 and $28,800. Of course, the surveys were conducted by The Knot, Conde Nast Bridal Media, and Wedding Report and the members and customers of these businesses are more interested in an elaborate wedding than the general population. (Those who opt for a civil ceremony or an impromptu elopement would bring down the average but they aren’t surveyed.) The Knot, the online wedding community, has the widest reach of the three: of the 2.2 million weddings last year, almost 40 percent involved members of The Knot. But the percentage responding to the survey is a small fraction of the number of members as a whole. The average cost of the weddings organized by the 2,014 members who responded to the survey was $27,400. But, as a recent article in The Wall Street Journal pointed out, this average is a mean: the costs of all the weddings is added up and divided by the number of respondents. This kind of average is easily skewed by a few super-expensive weddings. (If 54 weddings were under $10,000 and one was $1 million, the mean would be $28,000.) The median cost of the weddings surveyed: the response in the middle, with as many higher as lower, was $15,100. The median for the Conde Nast survey was $14,182 and the Wedding Report Survey was $14,400.

Let your customers know that half of the couples who are involved in planning the perfect wedding spend less than $14,000. Easing the peer pressure to spend the normal amount of $27,000 may free up some of the budget for the most important symbol of that union: the wedding bands. Too often, wedding bands are an afterthought, a last minute choice that the groom, in particular, is willing to economize on. According to the Wedding Report, in 2006 consumers spent only $1,739 on wedding jewelry, which they will wear for the rest of their lives. Compare this to $1,841 on wedding attire, $2,337 on their Wedding Ceremony, $1,104 on favors and gifts, $1,136 on flowers, $922 on music, $2,659 on photography and video, $13,692 on the reception, $809 on stationery, and $563 on transportation. When couples think about how long they will wear their wedding bands and how they symbolize their promises, they may decide to spend more on a symbol that will last long after the cake is eaten and the centerpieces wilt.

July 7, 2007 is shaping up to be the most popular wedding day in history. Couples across the country are hoping that the triple-seven date will prove as lucky for love as it is on a slot machine. Of course, Las Vegas, already a mecca for weddings, is playing up the lucky-number date. Many casinos have 77 weddings scheduled for the day, about three times as many as usual. Wedding planners, halls, and other wedding specialists started receiving 7-7-07 bookings in 2005. The Knot, which tracks wedding dates of its members, has recorded 38,000 weddings scheduled for that day, compared to an average of 12,000. The fact that the date is a Saturday makes it even more popular than other memorable dates or holidays like Valentine’s Day. Some retailers have created promotions for this special day (Wal-Mart is offering a all-expenses paid wedding in one of its garden centers, one of those prizes you would always regret accepting: maybe not now but soon and for the rest of your life.) Any contest with a drawing on 7-7-07 will get extra attention and publicity. Try a “Is this your lucky day?” promotion. This is also an excellent PR opportunity, since a local angle on this lucky day is an inevitable feature for every local paper in the country. Count the number of engaged couples who bought rings in your store who are tying the knot on that day and pitch the “lucky in love” story to your local media. And remember that this date also has potential for proposals too, for the same reason it makes a compelling wedding date: it’s very easy to remember even for the most memory-challenged spouses. You might suggest to prospective grooms that they take advantage of the lucky numbers to start off their love story with the maximum amount of good fortune. Speaking of luck, 7-7-07 may not be the most popular wedding day in history for very long. Next year, 8-8-08 is tremendously lucky too, particularly in Chinese culture. (License plates with triple-eights sell for big bucks in Hong Kong.) If you have a large Chinese community in your town, consider a promotion with an eight-sided diamond like the Spice cut by Dalumi, the Eighty-Eight by Finesse Diamond, the Lucere by Ernest Slotar, Northern Lights by Polar Bear Diamonds, or the more common Asscher, Radiant, and Emerald Cuts. You may find that 8-8-08 becomes your lucky day too.

For those of you who follow the wisdom of Warren, his latest move suggests that jewelry middlemen may not be obsolete after all. Berkshire Hathaway has announced plans to buy two of the industry’s largest gold importers and distributors, Bel-Oro International and Aurafin, merging them to create the largest jewelry distribution company in the country. The new uber-distributor will be called The Richline Group. Leaving aside QVC, the largest single customer for Italian gold in the US, the two companies probably handle the majority of gold jewelry imports and distribution in the country. Bel-Oro, in particular, has been in the news lately thanks to its Gold Expressions marketing partnership with the World Gold Council that has made it the category’s largest marketer. Bel-Oro’s president Dennis Ulrich will be the chief executive officer of the combined company and Aurafin CEO Dave Meleski will be the president. Berkshire Hathaway is no stranger to the jewelry industry, of course: it owns Ben Bridge Jewelers, Borsheims Fine Jewelry, and Helzberg Diamonds. But up to this point, its jewelry interests have all been in the retail arena. That’s not surprising, since most of the profits in the business have been in mining or retailing, and nothing in between. Aside from a few very successful brands, jewelry manufacturers and wholesalers have seen declining margins and increased financing costs. So why acquire two large companies who primarily supply the majors and are known more as importers than manufacturers? To create a supplier with the financial resources to successfully deal with large retail customers? To vertically integrate? To provide a large parent company that can acquire brands or troubled manufacturers in Italy and elsewhere, and more effectively market their products? To add other kinds of jewelry products to the combined company’s offerings and become the industry’s super supplier? Stay tuned. The middle just got a lot more interesting.

The theme of this year’s AGS Conclave in Denver last week was Take the Vow and many sessions did address today’s bride. But the unofficial theme of conclave was growing power and influence of today’s female consumer and how the jewelry industry has to change to better attract and serve women. Women make or influence 80 percent of all consumer purchase decisions, that’s $5 trillion in consumer spending each year. But marketing to women isn’t a matter of making your store pink. Conclave speaker Andrea Learned, author of Don’t Think Pink, urges retailers to go beyond stereotypes to better attract and serve all customers. She advises creating a customer advisory board of ten or so of your top customers to advise you on how better to serve them and to use the power of stories to forge an emotional bond. But don’t take our word for it: listen to Andrea tell you all about it in our new video of her three secrets of Marketing to Women (just one of the cool interviews in our new Jewelry Video Network.) It’s important to remember that this isn’t about trading one customer base for another. Since women are informed shoppers who notice everything, from your social responsibility policy, the shopping experience, your store design, your staff, your website, doing a better job at marketing to women will help make your store more attractive to men too.

Marketers from Procter & Gamble to PepsiCo are using a new way to reach young opinion leaders: product placements at cheerleader camps. Personal care products like shampoos and cosmetics are handed out at the camps, which are setting up product lounges sponsored by consumer goods companies. Marketers expect the products used by these popular teens to drive word-of-mouth advertising. Cheerleading events run by Varsity Spirit of Memphis, Tennessee this year were attended by 350,000 cheerleaders in high school and college. Other companies like Jamz Cheerleading & Dance in Modesto, California and Great Lakes Cheer Company have also reported more interest from sponsors. Since reaching young people before marriage is a challenge for jewelers and engagement ring brands, cheerleading camp, particularly for college cheerleaders, might be a good alternative way to reach brides-to-be. It would also be a good way for jewelry brands who target young women to influence the influencers in communities across the country.

GIA is inviting consumers, collectors, and retailers to explore the world of jade at its fifth annual Sinkankas Symposium at the GIA Campus in Carlsbad, California on Saturday, April 21, 2007. For most people, jade evokes an image of brilliant green but this translucent gem also comes in many other colors including white, orange, and lavender. Because of its beauty and durability, jade, which includes the minerals jadeite and nephrite, has been treasured around the world for centuries. The Sinkankas Symposium is co-hosted by the San Diego Mineral & Gem Society. Named in honor of the renowned gemologist, author, and lapidary John Sinkankas, the event devotes a full day of discussions, lectures, and demonstrations to one gem, led by an impressive list of experts in a wide variety of fields. More than five different local gem and mineral clubs, from Los Angeles to Fallbrook, plan to attend.
Topics this year will range from types of jade, new discoveries, photography, carving, appraising and many other issues. Many jade pieces will also be on display at the event. Speakers include Fred Ward, National Geographic author and photographer, on Jades of the World; Si Frazier, author, on Nomenclature of Jade; Don Kay of Mason Kay Importers on Burmese Jadeite Jewelry; John Koivula, GIA gemstone inclusion expert on the Microworld of Jade; Richard Hughes, author and gem authority, on Burmese Jade Deposits; Mary Lou Ridinger, Guatemalan jade expert on the Current Guatemalan Jade Market; and George Rossman, professor and mineralogist at California Institute of Technology on the causes of Color in Jade. Admission is $75, which includes lunch. Tickets are available until April 14 by emailing annes@san.rr.com.  For more information on Jade, visit the Friends of Jade website.

This weekend’s Wall Street Journal had an article on the booming market for high-end watches called “What is Your Time Really Worth.” As the fact that collectors will pay $500,000 for a complication that “only a watch buff would recognize as more than nice-looking jewelry” is hardly news to anyone in that end of the market, it does continue to astonish just how high prices for in-demand limited editions can go. But what is really fun about the article is that the Journal rated the watches as investments and issued “Buy,” “Hold,” and “Sell” recommendations for 25 popular high-end watches. The ratings are based on a survey of collectors, dealers, and appraisers and also use auction prices for 400 watches at Antiquorum and Christie’s. These watches received the coveted “Buy” rating: the IWC Destriero Scafusia, F.P. Journe Chronometre a Resonance, Ulysse Nardin Freak, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak City of Sails, Vacheron Constantin Tin Mercator, Martin Braun Eos, Patek Philippe Nautilus, Breguet Marine Chronographe Automatique, Patek Phillippe Calatrava 5053, and the Nomos Tangente Date Power Reserve. Only four watches were rated “sell”: the Corum Bubble, Chopard Mille Miglia, Piaget Polo, and the Hublot Big Bang.

Last year, MacDaddy’s, a collection of gold fishing lures and flies, began a campaign to promote their brand of precious flies and lures that can be worn, hung on a wall or actually used. To attract media coverage, the company came up with some pretty irresistible bait: the Million-Dollar Lure, a fishing lure created from three pounds of 14k and 18k gold and platinum and encrusted with 100 carats of diamonds and rubies. The lure was manufactured by high-end jeweler Uneek. Then to make the story of the Million Dollar Lure even more tempting, the company got the governor of Baha, California to actually use the lure at the world’s largest marlin fishing tournament, the 26th Annual Bisbee’s Black and Blue Tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. CNN, ESPN, Rocky Mountain Television, National Geographic, and Mexico’s Televisa network filmed the event and ESPN also did a feature segment on the lure for Wanna Go Fishing in April. The lure received lots of mentions in holiday gift guides, including Maxim and Forbes Life. The Million Dollar Lure is now available for retailer trunk shows and events. For fundraisers, the company offers charities the chance to auction off the lure, with 5 percent, or $50,000, to be donated to the charity. So far the lure hasn’t sold. But the idea has been so successful that MacDaddy’s intends to create a second Million Dollar Lure. When the second lure is auctioned, the company will donate $75,000, and the third $100,000. The company hopes to keep donating $100,000 a year, and reaping the rewards in publicity, for years to come.

A new World Gold Council consumer advertising campaign that launches in May will use an iconic gold bar to connect gold’s symbolic meaning with its contemporary appeal. Each ad features a gold bar engraved with a message conveying the precious metal’s role in the culture: like “Only Gold is Divine” or “Only Gold Signifies True Power.” The ads target the self-purchasing woman with an emotional rationale for buying gold and feature high-end designer pieces from Temple St. Clair, Gurhan, and SeidenGang.

“These ads are about the history and culture of gold meeting the contemporary usage of gold,” explains Michael Pace, WGC Vice President, Marketing USA. “It also touches on the investment rationale that is going on in peoples’ minds, especially when the price of gold is strong like it is today.” The campaign will initially appear in 17 leading fashion and lifestyle publications in May and June 2007, including Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, Real Simple, Town & Country, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W and will continue in the fourth quarter with additional executions and partners.

GoldVish, the luxury phone company that is affiliated with sightholder Dianish, will exhibit in Basel this year, displaying a million-euro diamond encrusted phone that is the ultimate in over-the-top functional luxury. The diamond-encrusted TV and the diamond iPod headphones are just publicity stunts in comparison, as GoldVish’s business model actually seems to be working (although the million-euro phone is definitely aimed at the large press contingent in Basel.) “GoldVish is ready to expand, market, and distribute the most exclusive cell phone brand on a global scale,” says Michel Morren, company founder. “There is no better location to take this important step than at Baselworld, the world’s leading show for the watch and jewelry industry.”