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Smackdown! Two Competing Jewelers Team Up For Joint Promotion In One Town | January 15, 2014 (0 comments)
San Luis Obispo, CA—One doesn't often hear about competing jewelers in the same town working together on a promotion, especially two in the same block! But that’s just what two California jewelers did last November. As shown below, Kevin Main of Kevin Main Jewelry and Aaron Gomez of The Gold Concept in San Luis Obispo (SLO) teamed up to offer their customers a fun contest with nice prizes -- yes, so-called SLO smackdown.
The Centurion spoke with Kathi Main about the promotion. The premise was simple: each jeweler had eight weeks to design a bracelet and a ring of equal value. Voting ended December 1, 2013, and two voters won $500 gift cards. The stores traded the pieces back and forth to allow customers to come in and take a look in person. Voting was online.
"It was really interesting," said Main. "There was no collaboration between our store and The Gold Concept, yet the bracelet designs for each turned out remarkably similar."
The jewelers are all friendly. The Gomezes are sons of the original The Gold Concept owner Tony Gomez, who founded the business about 40 years ago. Both are budding jewelers. They took over their father's business about three years ago. The Mains, meanwhile, moved their jewelry business to San Luis Obispo from Morrow Bay about 15 years ago. Main says they thought a joint promotion would be good for them all. And it was.
According to Main, "It was a very positive experience. During the 30 days of voting, we, along with our customers, had a lot of fun. Our objective was met in that it generated interaction with our clients, offered something positive in our showroom and generated positive energy. We would consider doing it again."
The contest had some 1,500 voters with a neck-and-neck finish. The SLO Jewelers website declared the winners:
Congratulations to Aaron and Devin Gomez from the Gold Concept, for their exquisite design, the Confetti Cuff, which won best design in the Silversmith design contest.
And a big applause for Kevin Main of Kevin Main Jewelry for his CAD design, the Florence Ring, which tied for best design in the CAD design competition.
