JCK Opens: Kathy Ireland Shares Brand Lessons

Kathy Ireland kicked off the opening day of the JCK Las Vegas Show in true super-model mode. The ex-model turned billionaire entrepreneur has hung up the swimsuit in preference for the business suit, as CEO and chief designer of Kathy Ireland Worldwide, a lifestyle brand company with annual sales of over $1 billion.

"My message," she urged the audience of jewelry manufacturers and retailers "is that you need to select brands to support your business. Brands strengthens your relationship with consumers. Consumers want to know what they're going to find when they walk through a store."

As one of the U.S.'s leading lifestyle brand mavens, Kathy Ireland, knows what it takes to build a brand. Hard work, she noted and quite often, learning through failure.

"Generally speaking men buy products, women join brands," she commented. A lesson that has served her company well considering Kathy Ireland Worldwide promotes the motto of 'finding solutions for busy moms'.

As the audience filed out of the Palazzo Ballroom in the Venetian Hotel to make their way down to the opening hours of the JCK show. It wasn't just busy moms feeling the pressure. Las Vegas this week is glittering with a variety of shows. Couture, Luxury by JCK, Signature Salons and the largest of them all, the JCK Show, are all attempting to draw in the buyers and cement their niche as the leading Vegas Show.

Earlier in the week, it was the battle of Couture versus Luxury JCK. By all accounts Couture won this battle. Let's see which show will come out victorious at the end of this round. And more importantly, how the battle of the shows is affecting the people that support them, the buyers and the exhibitors.