Looking for a clever way to win the hearts of the moms (and dads) in your community? Engage their kids, and create an enduring relationship with their entire family.
Toms River, N.J., store Corinne Jewelers recently held a Junior Jeweler competition that did just that. The shop collaborated with a local elementary school to host a design competition that saw the winning drawing transformed into a piece of jewelry.
Carly Stopera, a fourth-grade student at North Dover Elementary School, took first place in the competition with her drawing of a dolphin jumping over a sun, the words I Love You written below it. She designed the piece as a Mother’s Day gift, and it was made into a sterling silver heart pendant by the metalsmiths at Corinne Jewelers.
Courtesy Corinne Jewelers
The winning design, by Carly Stopera, in Corinne Jewelers’ Junior Jeweler competition
Courtesy Corinne Jewelers
The winning piece brought to life in sterling silver
The shop’s owner, Ryan Blumenthal, and head designer, Allyson Berlen, announced the winner at a school assembly on May 4, and Blumenthal also awarded a Junior Jeweler certificate to every student who entered the competition. How cute is that?
“When I first told the class about the competition, the kids were really excited about it,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “But when I came back to announce the winner, the level of excitement was off the charts.”
The store hopes to hold the competition annually from now on—and to expand it to other area schools. Blumenthal added that for his designers, making the dolphin pendant “was like the thrill they get from creating a great custom piece times 10! I think they may have been as excited as the kids about the program.”
The competition is brilliant from a marketing perspective because it’s low-cost (the only expenditures are time and the cost of creating a single sterling silver piece), and the impact is high. As a business, when you engage kids in a learning capacity, you’re helping to cultivate warm and fuzzy feelings toward your brand in the community. When winner Stopera came in to collect her custom pendant, her mother and family members were visibly thrilled.
Courtesy Corinne Jewelers
Junior Jeweler winner Carly Stopera
Colleen McGrath, principal at North Dover Elementary, said the competition was a definite hit with the kids. “Our students worked very hard on this project,” she said. “They were so excited about the competition—it wasn’t like class work for them. They put their hearts and all their artistic efforts into their creations, and I’m incredibly proud of each and every one of them.”
Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
