Cause Celebrity
March 01, 10
According to a recent study by MEC’s MediaLab global sensor report, about 55 percent of consumers worldwide believe that a star makes a brand stand out. Of the 24,000 consumers the survey questioned globally, a whopping 45 percent said that hearing or reading about celebrities is important in their lives and one in four will buy a product simply because a certain celebrity is promoting it. And there is no shortage of celebrities lining up to add their name to a whole host of products, including jewelry.
While many famous names are happy enough just to add their names to a particular product, others like to get down and dirty with the design process. Either way, consumers get to own a piece of their favorite celebrity.
Brad Pitt is not new to the jewelry design business; he designed the engagement and wedding rings for his ex, Jennifer Aniston, in collaboration with Damiani. Recently the actor collaborated with his current partner, Angelina Jolie, to create a capsule collection of gold jewelry and silver snake-themed accessories for British company Asprey.
The Brangelina-designed line, called The Protector, is on sale in Asprey stores in
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Another couple getting in on the design act is Courtney Cox and David Arquette. The pair collaborated with Satya Jewelry on a collection of butterfly-themed pieces to raise awareness of a genetic condition called epidermolysis bullosa (EB). According to an interview in Vogue, the couple got involved when the son of a close friend of theirs was born with the condition. EB causes extremely fragile skin. Youngsters suffering from EB are known as “butterfly children” because their skin is as fragile as a butterfly wing.
The Satya Foundation, a non-profit foundation committed to providing children with an experience of yoga and healthy living through need based scholarshps, and which is run by Satya Jewelry, donates 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the jewelry to the Epidermolysis Bullosa Medical Research Foundation. Pieces range in price from $24 for a silver pendant to $348 for a gold version.
A new celebrity/charity partnership was formed recently between Rachel Bilson and the Diamond Empowerment Fund (DEF). After travelling to
A celebrity designing just for herself is Christina Brinkley. Last June she launched a new jewelry line, featuring almost 100 pieces, with multichannel retailer Ross-Simons. The Christie Brinkley Jewelry Collection made its debut in more than five million catalogs, 14 retail stores and online at ChristieBrinkleyJewelry.com.
Prices for the collection range from about $40 for an Italian sterling silver snake chain to $1,275 for a heart necklace with diamonds totaling 1 carat.
However, sometimes even being a celebrity is not enough to keep a good idea afloat. Last year ex-model and TV presenter Heidi Klum was forced to shut down her jewelry company after she was taken to court by Van Cleef & Arpels for infringing on its copyrighted designs.
“I don’t do the jewellery anymore, which I loved doing. Unfortunately, I did have a partner who… maybe wasn’t as knowledgeable in terms of setting up a business. I worked five years very hard on that, femalefirst.co.uk quoted Klum as saying.
“But we stopped because we had a lawsuit with Van Cleef & Arpels - they wanted to have the clover, even though our designs had never matched… I don’t know how many designs I had done in five years, maybe 800 different designs…but they just wanted to own the clover motif.”
It goes to prove that imitation can be a risky business, even for the best-known celebrities.