A television commercial (TVC) incorporating the music track, All of Me, by John Legend was recently unveiled for the first time in Melbourne at a presentation to Thomas Sabo retail stockists.
The TVC, along with the new season’s jewellery collections, were announced as part of a roadshow conducted by the brand’s Australian and New Zealand distributor, Duraflex Group Australia (DGA).
An extensive consumer marketing campaign with Thomas Sabo brand ambassador Georgia May Jagger in black and white print ads will begin in September; however, the TVC featuring All of Me won’t air until 31 October.
Thomas Sabo senior vice president of sales Ralf Barthelmess, who was in Australia for the launch, said, “It’s the best love song of the past 20 years and you can see why it sits so well with our new Love Bridge collection.”
As previously reported by Jeweller, the Love Bridge collection features bracelets with a sterling silver, 18-carat rose or yellow gold-plated bar designed to be engraved with a personal message.
The powerful song was written by Legend as a dedication to his real-life love and wife, Chrissy Teigen, and gained international success last year.
John Schlüter, chief brand officer of Thomas Sabo, said a two-year licensing agreement had been signed.
“We will start the international campaign running John Legend’s song from October 31 onwards and will continue for a period of about two years,” Schlüter explained.
The deal, which took four months to finalise from the initial contact with the singer’s management, stipulates that the song can be used worldwide. “As an internationally expanding brand, we need to think globally. However, the [marketing campaign] implementation is focused on selected key markets as business and image drivers for Thomas Sabo around the world,” he said.
Commenting on the choice of song and concept, Schlüter added, “While there are no exclusivity arrangements for the song, it’s crucial for us to combine the very romantic and delicate nature of the recently launched Love Bridge collection with unique imagery as created by photographer Ellen von Unwerth with the most emotional and romantic song imaginable. This is what we believe makes this international campaign really exclusive.”
Success sees changes
DGA managing director Phil Edwards said the new season collections and marketing campaigns had been well received by retailers attending the roadshows, which were taking place in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
Edwards also explained that due to the brand’s success he was in the process of implementing a new business structure to accommodate the current and future expansion of Thomas Sabo in Australia and New Zealand.
Under the new arrangement, DGA sales representatives will fall into two bands: those exclusively dedicated to managing Thomas Sabo product; and those responsible for the other brands distributed by the supplier such as Nikki Lissoni and Sekonda.
“The current DGA sales rep does everything and so now we’re having dedicated sales executives for Thomas Sabo and then additional reps to handle the other brands of DGA,” Edwards said.
“This change is a result of the growth coming from all the DGA brands as well as the current level of maturity and size of Thomas Sabo. This [maturity and size] justifies having a stand-alone presence and we believe that’s actually how we’re going to be able to take the brand to the next level,” he added.
Edwards said the new structure would initially be implemented in Victoria, NSW and Queensland. The change would be rolled out in other regions in Australia and New Zealand in due course.
Thomas Sabo has approximately 2,600 global retail stockists, with 285 located in Australia and 22 located in New Zealand.
All of me by John Legend
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