Recently, there happened an event which was to a certain extent symbolic: the Kimberley Process launched its own web-page on Facebook. According to www.idexonline.com, the launch was the initiative of KP Chair, Boaz Hirsch. The organization began uploading materials in mid-April, and started to invite the community to Like the page this week.The KP page includes links to related articles, background information about the process and issues relating to conflict diamonds.
Jewelry retailers have long been active on Facebook. Thus, according to National Jeweler, Maryland retailer Samuelson's Diamonds is constantly busy on the Facebook front, regularly adding photos of new designs and posting updates on giveaways and rare diamonds from around the world. But one of Samuelson's latest updates might take the cake for being the retailer's most interactive to date.
Samuelson's Diamonds has partnered for a jewelry giveaway with Gemvara, an online jewelry marketplace launched in February.
For a chance to win their own custom-designed ring, the retailer's Facebook fans - which now number more than 338,600 - click on "Win-A-Ring," right on the Diamonds fan page. There, they will see a link to "Enter Contest," and can begin customizing a ring by designer Ji Hwang, valued at a retail price of up to $2,493. The ring features a square-shaped frame enclosing a bouquet of five blooms, and each element, from the frame to the flowers' petals to the gemstone centers, is customizable, making for over 100,000 possible combinations, Gemvara says.
For a chance to win, Facebook fans must submit their custom designs by April 30, 2010, and a winner will be announced on Mother's Day, May 9.
The Hearts on Fire brand launched "The Perfect Moment" campaign on Facebook, according to Rapaport. The way this contest works is that any Facebook user can enter simply by posting the photograph that best captures one of life’s perfect moments. Users can share their entries and vote for their favorite photographs until June 20, 2010. The winning entry will receive Hearts on Fire diamond jewelry with a retail value of up to $10,000, according to the diamond jewelry firm.
At press time, Hearts on Fire had 4,810 Facebook fans.
To coincide with the launch of its newest collection, "Imagine Bridal," New York-based bridal manufacturer Imagine Designs has come up with an of-the-moment giveaway: The company says it will be handing out free Apple iPads in Las Vegas to retailers who carry its new bridal collection, www.nationaljewelernetwork.com reported.
Mervis Diamond Importers, a small Washington-based jewelry network, resorted to a most original and even scandalous way of advertising. Some time ago it announced it was going to issue diamond iPads.
It was featured everywhere from Business Week to CNN, Rob Bates of JCK Online says. At press time, Google news said there were nearly 1,000 stories about it.
Not bad for a product that, its creator admits, doesn't yet exist.
Mervis Diamond Importers' Diamond iPad was born when Jonathan Mervis, digital strategist for the five-store Washington, D.C., chain, was trying to brainstorm "something special and really spectacular."
"I'd been wanting to get into the celebrity market," he says. "I thought, we are not putting ourselves out there as a place for real extravagance."
The company had previously gotten attention with a diamond driedel and diamond cupcake. So, with Apple's new iPad in the news, Mervis loaded up Photoshop, added some diamonds to an iPad prototype, and put it on his store's site. "It literally took me 10 minutes," he says.
Copy below the image read: "This gorgeous diamond-studded iPad features 11.43 cts. of diamonds, hand-set in a micropavé styling. The diamonds are graded G/H in color and VS2/SI1 in clarity. ...Price tag: $19,999. Very limited quantities available."
Some tech blogs picked up the story, and from there it mushroomed, so much so that Mervis says a large part of his job has become handling media inquiries.
Despite the attention, Mervis admits he hasn't actually sold any diamond iPads. Of course, the store hasn't produced any, either, since, at press time, the iPad hadn't been released.
"I don't really know the legalities of it, and I would have to consult a lawyer," he says. "I don't really expect to sell any, but I wouldn't be surprised if some celebrity called me up and wanted a few. It could happen."
Till then, he's gratified knowing that the store set out to make a splash—and did.
"You have to strike when the iron is hot," Mervis says. "And right now, Apple is hot."
Incidentally, as it was reported by www.idexonline.com, none of the top 10 luxury brands ranked by Forbes in 2009 worked well on Apple’s iPad, according to a recent test by trends research and innovation company PSFK. The main culprit is the heavy use of Flash by the sites. Apple decided to block the use of flash on the iPad.
A review by PSFK found that most luxury brands are unprepared to leverage the changes in web use that products like Apple’s iPad and iPhone are driving. Conversely, Gucci “seems to have created a site that can handle the technology requirements that Apple has placed on its mobile devices,” PSFK reported.
PSFK’s conclusion is that luxury brands are failing to keep up with a gadget loving shopper.
