International fashion photographer Sante D'Orazio, known for snapping racy shots of beautiful celebrities, has taken on a new assignment with the Palladium Alliance International in which the jewelry - not the starlets - will serve as the steamy focal point.
The project kicked off in mid June, when Toledo, Ohio's Fruchtman Marketing—which developed and is responsible for launching the new media campaign to promote palladium jewelry—organized a day-long photo shoot at Milk Studios in Los Angeles with D'Orazio and Pamela Anderson, Kelly Osbourne, and Rose McGowan, star of the upcoming film Conan the Barbarian (due out Aug. 19). All starlets wore palladium jewelry designs by Todd Reed, Andrew Meyer, and Zeghani.
The celebrities chosen for the ads help extol the virtues of palladium jewelry—a durable, lightweight, and pure white precious metal that is also an affordable member of the platinum group of metals—through their active lifestyles, often requiring them “to take a daytime look to an evening event,” according to Ellen Fruchtman, president.
“Each celebrity represents a different style, and holds a position of style authority in Hollywood,” Fruchtman added. “We also acknowledge that all three celebrities make a conscious effort to stay physically fit and look for jewelry they can wear throughout their busy days.”
The campaign includes print and online ads, and social media efforts, in trade and consumer publications, the latter including 64 insertions, slated through 2012, in Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, The Knot, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, InStyle, People StyleWatch, and W. Totaling $8 million, the campaign is the largest in the history of the precious metal.
PAI is sponsored by Stillwater Mining Company, the only producer of palladium in the United States, according to Fruchtman. However, she notes, “The campaign is not simply about the dollars that are being spent, but rather the strategic way the dollars are being allocated” through marketing, PR, education, and technical training. What's more, social media outreach will include contests and sweepstakes to drive traffic to a micro site. “The idea is to create an immersive educational experience that is fun,” says Fruchtman.
Additionally, PAI—which was founded in 2006, but retracted some marketing dollars as the economic crisis worsened—will relaunch its existing website. It will provide a resource to both consumers and the trade by featuring designers who work with palladium, and links to their sites, allowing consumers to locate the retailer nearest them. The new site will also provide facts and benefits about palladium, and house education and technical training for retailers, designers, and manufacturers. The social media sites and updated PAI website will launch mid-August. According to Fruchtman, PAI decided to relaunch efforts “after studying the current economy and the rising price of both gold and platinum.”
Retailers will benefit through the heightened awareness for the metal, and so will designers participating in the paid sponsorship program. These, say Fruchtman, will not only be featured in ads, “but will also have the opportunity to be featured in New York and Los Angeles showrooms and in various public relations opportunities, including celebrity dressing and exclusive red carpet events. In fact, we just dressed Kelly Osbourne in palladium jewelry for the Miss USA pageant.”
