May is as Good as Gold for Jewelry.com: Jewelry.com Forms Strategic Alliances That Give the Month of May the Midas Touch

Business Wire, May 6, 2005

NEW YORK -- This month Jewelry.com forms strategic alliances with three unique entities to give the month of May, the Midas touch. Jewelry.com and the World Gold Council will celebrate the second annual "May is Gold Month" in Retail stores nationwide this month. Jewelry.com and SONY BMG Music will launch a month long sweepstakes to celebrate the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley this month. Jewelry.com and the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund have formed an alliance in honor of May 8th's Mother's Day Celebrations to help keep all "mothers" healthy.

MAY IS GOLD MONTH: The success of last year's (May 2004) Gold Month campaign was discernible in double digit increases for most of the retailers who participated, as well as, a spike in traffic that generated a 40% increase for the Jewelry.com site. Teaming up with the World Gold Council and Aurafin-Oro America, one of the largest U.S. Gold suppliers, Jewelry.com created a highly focused marketing campaign aimed at driving Gold jewelry sales at the retail level. Celebrating the second annual "May is Gold Month" campaign this spring, several major national retail competitors will once again join forces in order to reap big profits.

A multi-million dollar promotion and ad campaign involving consumer magazines, public relations, direct mail, and interactive marketing is spreading the news that "May is Gold Month" and Gold is the prefect gift for moms, dads, grads, weddings, anniversaries or a just because occasions.

To further support the Jewelry.com promotion, full-page color ads in InStyle, Self, Real Simple, House Beautiful, Lucky, Glamour and Marie Claire promote the Gold Month theme have been designed by Jewelry.com and their participating retailers, the World Gold Council and Aurafin.

The Jewelry.com retailers participating in this year's May is Gold Month Campaign (2005) include: JC Penney, Macy's, May Company Stores, and Zales. These retailers will be featuring, their own in-store, gold jewelry collections, signage, counter top brochures and in-store events planned nationwide.

Further reinforcing the "May is Gold Month" message, from May 1-31st, Jewelry.com and the World Gold Council will be offering the chance for consumers to "Win a Piece of Gold Jewelry Each Day in the Month of May," by simply logging onto www.jewelry.com/gold.> ELVIS BY THE PRESLEYS: Jewelry.com and SONY BMG invite you to celebrate the May 3rd 2005 release of new CD "ELVIS BY THE PRESLEYS" with them. ELVIS BY THE PRESLEYS offers a new unprecedented look into the lives of the Presley family. Thirty years after his passing, the King of Rock and Roll is still royalty to many. The CD is a look into the life of one of the most legendary figures in twentieth century music, as seen through the eyes of Lisa Marie and Priscilla Presley. The SONY BMG double CD contains 32 songs that were near and dear to Elvis, Lisa Marie and Priscilla Presley. In conjunction with the release of this new CD, Jewelry.com offers the public an opportunity to log on to its site (www.Jewelry.com/elvis) and enter to win a princely prize package, including a Grand Prize: 14kt Gold and Diamond bracelet worth $4,000 and a personalized Elvis Record Plaque emblazoned with the winners' name, and is also giving away (10) ten First Prizes of the CD itself.

OVARIAN CANCER RESEARCH FUND: Jewelry.com recognizes that 70% of their registered users are women. "In honor of Mother's Day this year, Jewelry.com wanted to find a special way to send a message of love that was worth its weight in gold," announced Laurie Hudson, President of Jewelry.com. "It is our hope that this month long Mother's Day campaign, we can raise awareness about the threat of ovarian cancer and direct women to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund 's site, where they can learn more about this disease."

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death of all gynecologic cancers in the United States. In 2003, it is estimated that roughly 25,000 women will be diagnosed with this form of cancer and close to 14,000 will lose their lives to it. Ovarian cancer is an insidious disease that often strikes without warning and without cause. Currently there is no effective means of early detection. As a result, just over half of all patients are alive and disease free five years after diagnosis. However, if detected and treated early, the five-year survival rate is 95%.

OCRF shines the klieg lights of the fashion world to bring this silent killer of women out of the shadows. Liz Tilberis, the former President of OCRF (1997 to 1999) was known to many as Editor in Chief at Harper's Bazaar, her courageous struggle against ovarian cancer made many designers and manufacturers in the fashion and retail world take up OCRF's noble cause, to find a cure and defeat this disease. Jewelry.com is proud to join this group. Jewelry.com is committed to give back to the community and this consumer awareness campaign is just the first step in fulfilling a pledge to serve its public.

Coopetition Bears Added Value: Instrumental in bringing all three of these campaigns to the consumer is Jewelry.com, the pre-eminent on-line portal, which brings competing national retail chains together on one site. Initially conceived to bring manufacturer, retailer and consumer together in a seamless manner, Jewelry.com pioneered an interesting new business strategy called "Co-opetition". This business strategy enables fierce retail competitors to all thrive through cooperation. It maximizes merchandising and marketing potentials while dramatically improving retailer sell-throughs.