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Brand News: FOPE Launches New Brand Identity, Website; Tiffany Taps Authenticity For ‘True’ Rings April 03, 2019 (0 comments)
FOPE Unveils New Brand Identity At Baselworld
Basel, Switzerland—Italian jewelry brand FOPE introduced its new brand identity during the recent Baselworld show, just concluded last week. (Left: the latest iteration of its Eka collection).
Related: The Good, Bad, And Ugly Of Baselworld 2019
The new FOPE brand identity marks the 90th anniversary of the company’s founding. It includes a new logo, new colors, a new website, new communication identity, and many other tools, allowing retailers to focus on the brand and its history but with a different point of view.
FOPE has been made by the Cazzola family in Vicenza, Italy, since 1929 when Umberto Cazzola opened his goldsmith’s workshop with about 20 employees. Vicenza, together with Arezzo and Valenza, is one of the three cities that form Italy’s famous “golden triangle” of jewelrymaking. Vicenza is best known for being the home of Andrea Palladio, one of the most influential Renaissance architects.
An early photo of Fope's workroom.
After WWII, the workshop turned into a cutting-edge factory, thanks to strong economic growth in the war’s aftermath. Umberto’s son, Odino Cazzola, invested in modern technologies to develop innovative new products, including the flexible metal straps which became the core of the company’s manufacture for more than two decades. In 1948 FOPE presented its wares at Vicenza fair for the very first time, becoming a leading supplier of flexible gold straps to Swiss watchmakers. The company name at the time was FICM, an acronym for Italian Factory Metal Strap, but in the late 1960s, Odino changed the company name to FOPE, for Factory Of Jewelry Precious Export.
Italian jewelry brand FOPE got its start making flexible watchbands, not the jewelry it is now known for.
In the 1970s. Odino’s son, Umberto, (named after his grandfather) and daughter, Ines, transformed the family business again by investing extensively in research and development. They began experimenting with new techniques to create jewelry and, in 1985, created the Novecento mesh that grew into brand’s iconic style. Umberto’s late daughter Giulia, who passed away earlier this year, drove international expansion, opening the American branch of the company in New York and managing the brand’s worldwide marketing.
FOPE's now-iconic Novocento mesh chain.
The Cazzola family draws on Vicenza’s rich, shared culture for inspiration, and the brand is also committed to supporting the cultural activity of the city and promoting Italian artists and musicians all over the world. Additionally, FOPE has been a certified member of the Responsible Jewellery Council member since 2014, guaranteeing both quality and the ethics of the production process.
Campaign For New ‘Tiffany True’ Cut And Setting Taps Authenticity And Transparency
New York, NY—With the marriage market shrinking, Tiffany & Co.—like every other jeweler—is looking for ways to keep bridal customers—er—engaged.
An article in Luxury Daily details the jeweler’s new diamond engagement ring, designed to attract Millennials who might be tempted by a non-diamond option or by a lab-grown diamond. The new Tiffany True cut (a modified cushion) emphasizes clarity and cut over carat weight, held by four prongs that form a “T,” in line with its other new “T” collection of jewelry. The style is sleek and minimalist, reflecting a trend back toward simplicity after years of ornately detailed engagement rings’ popularity.
To promote the new ring, Tiffany has released another video in its “Believe In Love” series, and stars Lady Gaga singing a song she wrote for A Star Is Born. Click here or on the image below to watch. The video campaign is online only.
The luxury jeweler tapped Lady Gaga two years ago to help revive flagging sales and diminished appeal to Millennials, but luxury market analyst Pamela Danziger of Unity Marketing told Luxury Daily the message is off for Millennials, whom she believes are turned off by the traditional “Four C’s” of diamond marketing as too complicated and scientific.
Related: Tiffany Goes Gaga
Danziger may have a point. The “Real Is Rare, Real Is A Diamond” campaign launched by the Diamond Producers Association also steers clear of any Four C’s—as in fact does advertising from Forevermark and Hearts On Fire. But Tiffany also is a leader in sustainability, a message it emphasizes in its diamond marketing and one that does resonate with Millennials. By 2020, its Diamond Source Initiative will allow customers to track the entire journey of their diamond from mine to finger.