Stars Hungry for Success – And Free Jewelry
April 17, 05
Luxury jeweler Harry Winston has long been known as the 'jeweler to the stars', but could the company soon be called the jeweler to the stars' assistants?
Where it has long been standard practice for the large jewelry houses and designers to lend top film and music stars jewelry when they appear at globally televised award shows, such as the Oscars and Emmys, some stars apparently believe they have a right to keep the jewelry and even demand extra pieces for their assistants and hangers-on.
But that is the risk the luxury jewelers take in going down this particular marketing road in their efforts to attract high exposure for their products.
Indeed, it seems unlikely that the jewelry firms have not taken into account the possibility that they may have to permanently part with a valuable piece on occasion.
Even if globally famous jewelry firms sometimes have to bite the bullet and let a star keep a certain piece of jewelry, the benefit in terms of free advertising in front of a worldwide audience most certainly outweigh the financial cost of the piece.
With a televised audience of close to a billion for the Oscars, for example, that's an awful lot of eyeballs ogling the jewelry hanging off the bodies beautiful of
Even if not all those viewers know exactly who made the jewelry, many millions of them either read newspaper, magazine and website articles or view TV news pieces in the days following the big shows where the makers of the jewelry and their precise contents are comprehensively reported.
A cheap way of marketing their goods? Yes, even if the company never sees its 18 karat gold necklace featuring several carats of ice again.