Jewellery PR and press relations for designers and brands
Jewellery PR puts a piece in front of the editors, stylists and writers who decide what is printed and posted, with everything they need to use it. Gemlea Branding Laboratory handles press and editorial relations for jewellery designers and brands from London: editors written to about a piece, and the samples that follow, inside a house that also builds the brand, plans the launch and sells the collection in.
What a jewellery PR agency does
Press relations are two things kept in step: relationships and material. The relationships are with the people who fill pages and feeds, and who are looking, at any moment, for a particular kind of piece: a colour for a trend story, a price point for a gift guide, a signet for a round-up of signets. The material is what lets them say yes quickly: the pictures, the facts and the sample.
Most jewellery coverage is of a piece rather than of a brand. A ring appears on a page because it fits what the page is about, and the brand comes with it. So the work starts by reading the collection the way an editor will: which pieces photograph well alone, which carry a story, and which answer the questions a writer is being asked this season.
What jewellery editors need from a brand
A writer on a deadline chooses the piece that comes with everything attached. A picture without a price or a stockist gives them a reason to pick another one. For every piece offered to the press:
- High-resolution images: a cut-out on a plain white ground, at a size that holds up in print, and a worn or styled picture beside it.
- A caption line: the piece’s name, metal and fineness, the stones, and the retail price.
- Where to buy it: the brand’s own website and the stockists that carry the piece, with links that work.
- Credits for every picture: photographer, model and stylist, as they should be printed.
- Sample availability, and the name of someone who answers the same day.
The jewellery press kit
A press kit gathers that material so nobody has to ask for it twice. For a jewellery brand it usually holds a short press release about the collection, a few paragraphs on the brand and the designer with a portrait, the image library behind a download link rather than in an attachment, the lookbook, and a retail price list. Each piece in the images carries the same name and reference as on the line sheet, so a stockist and an editor are talking about the same ring.
A kit is kept current. Prices change, pieces sell out and stockists come and go, and a writer who prints an old price hears about it from readers. Dating each version and replacing the download, rather than adding to it, keeps one answer in circulation.
Press samples and gifting
Samples are lent for shoots and returned; gifts are given and kept. Lending is the normal arrangement for fine jewellery, and it needs a system: each piece logged out and back in, insured in transit and on set, and checked for condition when it returns. A sample set kept for the press alone means the pieces a buyer is shown are never on a photographer’s table at the same time.
Gifting suits pieces made in numbers, and it reaches stylists, talent and creators as well as editors. UK advertising and consumer rules expect a post about a gifted piece to make clear that it was a gift, and a brand that asks for coverage in return for the piece is advertising and has to label it as such.
A launch-to-press timeline
Print and online work to different clocks. Monthly magazines are planned several months before they appear, and gift guides for Christmas are put together while it is still summer. Weekly titles, newspapers and websites work to weeks or days, and social media to the day itself.
- Long lead: images, prices and samples to monthly titles and seasonal guides, under embargo where the launch is not yet public.
- Short lead: the press release and pictures to weekly, daily and online titles in the weeks before the date.
- Launch day: the collection live on the brand’s own channels and at its stockists, so every story has somewhere to send readers.
- Afterwards: samples called back, coverage gathered, and the pieces that interested writers noted for next season.
How it works
- 01
A first conversation
A video consultation about the brand, the collection and the launch date, before anything is agreed.
- 02
The pieces chosen
The collection read as an editor reads it: which pieces to offer, to whom, and with what story.
- 03
The material
Pictures, captions, prices, stockists and the press kit, made to agree with the line sheet.
- 04
Out to the press
Editors written to about a piece, and the samples that follow.
Questions
What does a jewellery PR agency do?
A jewellery PR agency places a brand’s pieces in front of editors, stylists and writers, supplies the images, prices and stockist details they need, lends samples for shoots, and plans the timing of a launch around how far ahead magazines and websites work. Gemlea Branding Laboratory does this as press and editorial relations for jewellery designers and brands.
How far ahead should a jewellery brand contact the press?
Months ahead for monthly magazines and seasonal gift guides, which are planned long before they are published; weeks ahead for weekly, daily and online titles. Christmas gift guides are usually researched in the summer. A launch date set without the press calendar in mind often misses the pages that matter most.
What should a jewellery press kit include?
A short press release, a few paragraphs about the brand and the designer with a portrait, high-resolution images (cut-outs on white and worn pictures) behind a download link, the lookbook, a retail price list, stockists, picture credits and a contact who answers quickly. Every piece should carry the same name and reference as on the line sheet.
What is the difference between press samples and gifting?
Press samples are lent to editors and stylists for a shoot and come back, so each one should be logged out, insured and checked on its return. Gifting gives a piece away, usually to stylists, talent or creators. In the UK a post about a gifted piece is expected to say it was a gift.
Can a PR agency guarantee press coverage?
No one can honestly guarantee editorial coverage: what appears on a page is the editor’s decision, which is why readers trust it. What PR controls is whether the right pieces reach the right writers at the right time, with everything needed to say yes. Paid placements are advertising, and are labelled as such.
How much does jewellery PR cost?
Many PR agencies work on a monthly retainer or a fee for a single launch. Gemlea does not publish its fees: fees, minimums, lead times and NDAs are agreed in the brief, project by project, depending on whether you need one launch, a season of press or press as part of a wider brand project.