Modern Jewelry Trends

Maybe “luxury” and “MySpace” aren’t oxymorons after all. Cartier just launched an extensive global advertising campaign in eight languages on MySpace. True, the Cartier profile is a bit more sophisticated than most on the largest online repository of tacky wallpaper. And it also offers something for people who aren’t in the market for jewelry: free downloads of songs from international artists like Lou Reed and Marion Cotillard rather than a garage band on a special minisite. As Advertising Age points out in its article MySpace Signs Up Glam New Member Cartier, 40 percent of MySpace members are in other countries. The social networking site is a remarkably effective way to reach a global audience at a relatively low cost (especially now that the dollar is so weak). Cartier is probably paying about $5 per thousand. Yes, but are those MySpace thousands really an audience of potential jewelry buyers? “There’s this misperception in the market about MySpace being a youth site, a site for teens,” Travis Katz, managing director-international operations for MySpace told Advertising Age. “But 85% of our audience in the U.S. is over 18, and 40% of all moms in U.S. are on MySpace.” He claims that MySpace reaches more people making $100,000-plus than arch nemesis Facebook. If this works out for Cartier, look for other jewelry companies with global ambitions, particularly bridal brands, to follow suit.