ModernJeweler.com |

In our celebrity-obsessed culture, there can be no more powerful marketing initiative for a retail jeweler than establishing a sponsor relationship with a celebrity.

For the past four years, two celebrities local to my retail location in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, have worn my jewelry: Lynn Doyle, host and executive producer of CN8's, "It's Your Call With Lynn Doyle," an issue-oriented television talk show; and former professional football player and Super Bowl champion Vaughn Hebron, who appears weekly on the Comcast SportsNet program, "Eagles Post Game Live." I met the two under different circumstances and today regard them both as personal friends. But it was more than friendship that led to what have become mutually beneficial relationships.

Doyle was a customer in my store long before she started wearing my jewelry on the air. When she first visited, I introduced myself and, as I do with all of my customers, I asked a lot of questions about her jewelry needs and tastes. She bought a few pieces and began to stop by fairly regularly. Over time, I began loaning her special pieces for important events, such as an Emmy presentation, and she began to rely on me more for her jewelry needs. It was a natural progression when she started wearing my jewelry on the air.

Doyle wears only my jewelry on her program, which airs six nights a week with a viewing audience from Maine to Virginia, including Washington, D.C. I am credited on each program as the supplier of her jewelry, either through a visual ad, vocal announcement, or in the program credits. She also wears my jewelry for all of her public appearances and speaking engagements, and for those situations I am either credited in the program or vocally acknowledged.

Fate played more of a role in the development of my relationship with Vaughn Hebron. When Hebron moved into our neighborhood he was playing with the Denver Broncos and was on the cusp of a Super Bowl championship. We became friendly with his family—so friendly, in fact, that he asked me to design his girlfriend's engagement ring and flew me and my then 13-year-old son to the 1999 Denver Broncos Super Bowl game, where the night before his team won the game, he presented the ring and proposed to his girlfriend. (Heady stuff for a small town jeweler like me!)

After Hebron retired from football and established himself as a broadcast personality, I asked if he would wear my jewelry for on air appearances and special events. As a commentator on the Eagles program, which airs weekly after each game throughout the regular and post-season, he usually wears a combination of 4 carat diamond stud earrings and various cuff links. At the end of the program, I am credited as his jewelry sponsor through a vocal "shout-out," in which the other commentators, including Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell, frequently participate. I've even appeared on the show myself to participate in the closing ritual, which I must say I found tremendously satisfying.

Reflecting on these sponsorships, it's evident they have had tremendous impact on my business. Not a week goes by that someone doesn't enter my store and mention that they heard my name, or inquire about a piece of jewelry that Doyle or Hebron wore during a television appearance. Personal friends and associates of both have been referred to me for their jewelry needs. My visibility within Bucks County, and indeed the greater Philadelphia region, has skyrocketed, spawning word-of-mouth advertising that is a hundred times more worthwhile than the results of any direct mail or print advertising dollars I have spent.