July 8, 2025 • 36 mins
Michael recounts his journey through the JCK Las Vegas jewelry show, discusses notable jewelry trends, and the value of in-person industry relationships. He also buys some jewelry that comes... blessed. Pretty neat!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome to In the Loop, and my main goal was to
meet as many vendors andpartners as I could and start
working on developing individualrelationships with them, which
I feel like I was able to.
But along the way I had a lotof fun, ate a lot of steaks, a
lot of Italian food, and I justhad a great time.
Las Vegas is not exactly my cupof tea, but it is kind of
(00:41):
intoxicating to go for a shortwhile and I think I really got
my fill of it and had a greattime.
If you went, maybe you'llsympathize and understand some
of the things I talk about, andif you didn't go, well, maybe
you can live a little bitvicariously through me.
All that to be said, pleaseenjoy my trip to JCK Las Vegas.
Enjoy.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Vegas Enjoy.
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agency.
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(01:30):
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(01:51):
Schedule a guided demo today atpunchmarkcom.
Slash go.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
And now back to the show show.
Well, it's the morning of dayone.
Yesterday was day zero a lot oftravel.
I woke up at 4 am, eastern time, and kept on going until just
(02:22):
about a full 24 hours.
It was a long day.
We had an amazing dinner atCarmine's.
Carmine's is like this Italianplace.
They do family style serving,so everybody you know takes a
little bit puts on their plate.
Super good, we had a wholebunch of clients out with us and
I don't know.
Just really really a fun time.
And then we went to this placecalled Electra, which is right
in the center of one of thecasinos.
(02:43):
It's kind of like where all thejewelers hang out.
So it's kind of cool.
You go in there and Tommy andJason recognize 50% of the
people.
So yeah, today I think we'regoing to take an Uber at about 9
am here, which feels a littlebit late for me, but whatever,
we're going to get there and Ithink we don't have much of a
setup.
All we have to do is just showup, make sure that the computers
(03:04):
are working.
But Vegas is just it's a strangething, it's.
The place is so just defiesevery law imaginable.
You know, it's like right inthe middle of a desert.
It's bumping until two in themorning, four in the morning, it
doesn't matter.
I gambled a little bit lastnight, didn't end up winning.
(03:24):
Played some roulette, it wasfun, but uh, man, it's easy just
to lose.
It is, but it was fun.
So time to go sell somewebsites.
Hopefully we get just.
I just want to get one thenwe're not scum.
That's all I think about manwalking in the show show floor
and it is bustling.
There's like nine millionpeople.
It's super cool, awesome.
(03:46):
Can I grab one as well?
Thank you so much.
Oh, super cool.
I just got one, an effy, uhtote bag, and it's super nice.
Whoa, these things must havecost a lot of money to make.
Holy smokes.
Yo, these are sick.
Thank you, just time.
Scan my badge.
And now I gotta find where ourbooth is, because I don't
remember.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Just a beeline that way, yeah, and then it's exactly
where it is.
That's right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
One thing I've been thinking about a lot as I've
gotten back from JCK is almostjust the scale of JCK, and when
I come back, a lot of times myfriends ask me that are not in
the jewelry industry hey, howwas the jewelry show?
And I sometimes don't even knowhow to describe it to them.
Oh, like you know, did you seeany big diamonds?
(04:34):
It's like yes, I saw thebiggest diamonds you ever even
conceived.
Oh, did you see anything thatyou really wanted?
Yes, I saw so much jewelry Iwould have loved to have had.
Did you buy anything?
Yeah, I bought a little bit ofjewelry, but it's hard to convey
the scale to people and I thinkthat's one of those things that
you can hear me talking about.
Oh, we got to find out where weare.
(04:57):
For me to go to the bathroom,which I was doing quite a bit,
because you're living in adesert for Vegas, you're just
pumping a desert, for, you know,vegas, you're just pumping
water into your body so that youcan try to stave off
dehydration.
If I'm going to the bathroomevery hour, it took like 10
minutes round trip to walk allthe way to to the bathroom and
(05:21):
then you have to like go up andit's just that there are
thousands of booths and there'sthousands of people walking
around and I almost struggle toreally kind of convey just how
overwhelming and how insane JCKreally is.
I think any jewelry show,whether that's IJO or RJO or
even the Atlanta AJS, theyreally are just so overwhelming.
(05:46):
But JCK in particular the factthat Punchmark is located
downstairs in the tech andessentials section.
So we're down there in EdgeVillage right next to the Edge
and Edge Retail Academy and someof the other Punchmark partners
like Podium and ClientBook andI for Fraud, a couple of those
people, and we are in thesmallest area and it made me
(06:09):
laugh that like we weren't evenon the same floor as all of the
other jewelry.
Uh, like the real jewelry stuffwas on the main floor and is
just so vast and I walked aroundwith hope a couple of days and
it was really cool getting tosee stuff and I only think I saw
like 1%, maybe not even 1%.
(06:31):
And that's not even mentioningthe fact that there's also the
luxury show, which I also wentand checked out too.
Luxury is just like the factthat there's a whole different
section, the fact that you can'tget into it.
It's just so bizarre to me andit's almost like it defies
reality and defies logic.
I don't know.
(06:53):
I don't know if you ever feelthat experience or if you've
been going to trade shows for somany years that you just can't,
that it doesn't really impactyou.
Or maybe you're a retailer andthat's kind of exactly what you
want.
But as a vendor I can say, man,it is so big.
All right, we started day two,day three overall, but day two,
(07:14):
and it was super fun.
Yesterday we went to a placecalled Toca Madera Super fancy
steakhouse, really nice.
They have like fire dancers andlike live guitarists while you
eat steaks and it's very Vegas-y.
But now we're back on the showfloor.
We had a good day yesterday.
It was super slow for like thefirst hour and a half and I was
(07:35):
like, oh my God, what if it'sslow the entire time?
And then, like you know, theneveryone shows up and then
you're slammed for the entireday.
One thing I always find funnyabout jewelry shows is lunch is
always like so hit or miss.
It's like here we are eatingthe most fanciest, nicest
dinners and stuff, and thenlunch is always like I don't
(07:56):
know, like a weird, like burritowrap or like a flatbread pizza
or something.
It's like trade shows are justweird places.
Time doesn't really make anysense, food doesn't really make
any sense.
You just kind of exist for fourdays.
But yeah, hopefully we haveanother good day.
We just got to the spot.
We're all set up.
I feel bad.
Some people have to set up evenearlier.
(08:17):
So, yeah, hopefully we stillhave a couple more sites.
All right, I'm with Hope.
Last night was super fun.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Super fun.
Socomadero is the best.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And yesterday we were pretty busy at the booth all
day, but we didn't actually geta chance to walk around very
much, and I think that this timeI'm going to try my hardest to
get upstairs and walk around.
Also, there's so much jewelryupstairs.
I thought that there wasjewelry downstairs and it's only
like it's all tech mainly.
So upstairs is all jewelry andit's even.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
It's so sparkly it's going to be really hard not to
buy everything that I see.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
It will be easy for me because I would just run out
of money rather quickly, as bythe first store, but it's very
cool.
Yeah, I think it'll be a goodstart to the day.
So we're walking around in themiddle of day two and we just
walked through the Plum Clubsection.
Really pretty, very cool.
(09:15):
They have such a nice carpet.
I'm obsessed with their carpet.
I'm with Jason.
Hello, jason hates us.
Yeah, some really cool stuffout here.
So I want to elaborate just alittle bit more about the Plum
Club section.
So the Plum Club is this groupof vendors that's jewelry
vendors that are I don't knowkind of work together.
(09:37):
We actually do their websitefor them, which is this virtual
show floor, kind of cool.
But what's really neat aboutthe Plum Club is that they have
this carpet and I man I'vetalked about it so many times, I
almost feel silly talking aboutit, but it's so funny that the
carpet is so it's a greatadvertising tool Because when
you walk in there I think thatthere's less reverberation and I
(10:00):
think it kind of captures likea lot of the noise, so it's like
a little bit quieter.
I think it's a little bit likebetter temperature in there.
It's not as hot and the wholething is just like a very
different feeling space.
I also thought that aboutluxury, the luxury show.
It kind of felt very much likea separate spot.
We have a lot of our premiumvendors are members of the Plum
(10:22):
Club, like Ospy and ColorMerchants and Imperial Pearls
and Benchmark and RembrandtCharms, and I got a chance to
walk around and try to shakehands with as many of them as I
could.
It's the start of day three.
We are walking the extensiveway all the way to the
essentials and tech section, theEdge Village, past the
(10:47):
different lasers and whatnot.
I'm joined by Andy.
How are you doing today, andy?
I'm doing well.
How are you and where are youwith?
I'm joined by Andy.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
today, andy, I'm doing well.
How are you and where are youwith?
I'm with Barani and ColorMerchants.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Very cool and you've been having a good show so far.
What's the traffic been like?
It's been an amazing show,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
We've done very, very well here and I'm extremely
pleased with the work that'sbeen put in.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
But you guys were getting up to some really fun
stuff.
Last night.
What were you guys doing?
Absolutely, we went to go seeDeadmau5.
That's amazing.
I've always wanted to see him.
Tonight is going to be theSnoop Dogg concert and Jason
Derulo.
I'm very excited, jason DeruloHa no, I think it'll be good,
(11:29):
but it doesn't start until 9, soit's going to be kind of a
little bit of a later start.
But what are you guys?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
doing for dinner?
Anything fun.
We have a salesman dinner andwe just kind of, you know, at
the end of the show we just alllike to just talk and, you know,
have a nice dinner togetherbefore we start off into the
wild of the second half of theyear?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Oh gosh, but do you guys discuss what sold well,
what doesn't sell well?
Is that kind of the point of it?
Or what the sentiments of thecustomer are?
What are you guys discussing?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
mainly so.
Honestly, it's just aboutcommunication.
It's how can we support you?
These are all independentsalespeople and we just want to
be there for their support.
I'm not going to tell asalesman that's been on the road
for 40 years how to do his job.
I just want to let him knowthat, because I am the sales
(12:21):
manager, I'm going to be yoursupport.
So when I communicate to himthat I want to help you, and
when that comes is basicallythey're bringing in a line of
four different lines because hejust spoke to me to support, I'm
going to be the first one outof the bag.
(12:41):
Oh, very cool.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So you guys have Color Merchants and Burdani
under one house, essentially,absolutely, are sales reps.
Are they specific to one or arethey both typically?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So Color Merchants is the parent company and when
Allison came on board she didn'twant to be pigeonholed into
color, so she created Bravani.
So we can expand the line todiamond fashion, our dashing
diamond line, and a lot of realpretty designs.
(13:13):
Because of that it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Thank you so much, andy, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
No, thank you very much, I appreciate you Cheers.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Oh, it's been a long, long third day.
I am a little bit more cookedthan I normally am at this stage
.
It's right about to be 5o'clock, so we got another hour.
We're also going to do a panelthat I'm going to try to get to
so I can record a little bit ofthe audio.
But yeah, just, it's been along day.
(13:41):
I feel like I was getting beatup and I think that also some of
the people dipped a little bitearly.
So I got a chance to meet allof the, or a whole bunch of the
premium vendors that work withPunchmark, and a lot of them are
in the Plum Club.
So it's cool.
I just went in there and, youknow, walked around a lot and
you got to shake a lot of handsand put some faces with some
names and, man, there's someawesome, awesome jewelry.
(14:04):
I really I'm not going tomention any names because I'm
not going to be paid to besponsored by them, but there's
some really beautiful jewelryout there that I'm hoping maybe
I might buy something on thelast day, tomorrow.
But JCK, man, it's exhausting,it's tiring, but it really is
one of a kind.
(14:24):
All right, everybody, we'regoing to take a quick break and
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(14:44):
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Wow, it's a hell of a deal.
Anyways, make your appointmentat punchmarkcom, slash
appointments and now back to theshow.
And we're back, and you knowwhat I decided I'm gonna start
(15:44):
doing something new when I go tothese jewelry shows and
hopefully I go to a couple morenow that I've, uh, started
leading the vendor program atpunch mark.
Uh, I want to talk about thejewelry I was really excited for
, and I think I'm going to tryto do this without really
mentioning too many brand namesbecause, in the end, like I
don't want people to feelexcluded or whatever, but I
sometimes feel like in jewelryshows like, sometimes people
(16:04):
like they almost like kind ofdodge the question of like the
actual jewelry and a lot of it'sabout the relationships and
like the people and like themarketing and the sales and the
actual selling of jewelry.
But sometimes I feel like wedon't really talk enough about
like the jewelry.
You know what I mean.
Like, oh, I love this style.
(16:24):
Like this style is really kindof coming in.
So I want to talk about some ofthe stuff that I saw also at
JCK, just in general and that Igot really inspired by, and I'm
going to spend I think fiveminutes, six minutes, talking
about some jewelry that I liked.
You can skip this part if youdon't like jewelry, but if
you're listening, I assume youlike jewelry.
All right, first things first.
(16:44):
Yo, I mentioned in thebeginning of this episode but
this Effie tote bag.
I was blown away by the qualityof it and you get it for free.
So everybody was walking aroundwith it and that's this really
cool drawing of this pantherwalking down like New York City
and I thought that was reallycool.
That was really well done.
All right, what else?
The jewelry.
(17:07):
I spent a bunch of time atBrevani and I thought that their
jewelry was really nice.
I um, it feels like one of thefew brands that I noticed.
It felt like their jewelrylooked like what is going to be
popular in five months or sixmonths, like around Christmas.
It's not to say that all theothers are old, but I feel like
(17:28):
all of the a lot of the otherbrands that I had looked at, uh,
jewelry was very like,established, like it's the
classic stuff.
But with what I liked about theBravani stuff, it's like a lot
of these, you know, colorful,beautiful stones, a lot of
rubies, a lot of sapphires, withthese kind of more elegant
(17:48):
dainty settings.
I thought that was really nice.
Don't get me wrong, I like them, so I'm not just saying that,
but I thought that that wasworth shouting out.
What else did I like as far asjewelry?
I'm looking through my phonebecause I took a lot of photos
of jewelry and sent it to somepeople.
Ah, yes, here's one inparticular.
I walked by I don't even havethe name of this location, but I
(18:12):
got to see 24 karat pure gold Iguess it is, and it was this
one necklace it looked kind oflike a rising sun, so it had all
these rubies, like a halfcircle of rubies, with all these
pieces coming out that were inthis yellow, yellow gold Like I
took a picture of it because thegold it almost looks orange.
(18:33):
It was incredible and it hadlike a brooch, a bracelet or a
bangle, I guess, and like a ringmaybe, and they all kind of
went together all with thatyellow gold.
And the guy was telling me thatthe gold for them to use, for
them to make, and why it looksso yellow is because it's like
99.9 something percent pure gold.
(18:55):
Kind of had me thinking like Iwonder if it makes it like
really soft, like if you have toworry about, like what if you
bump it on like a table or ifyou like, I don't know, drop it
or something that you drop,something that priceless.
But this thing is, I'm sure,well, well into the six figures
at cost.
I'm sure it retails forprobably in the millions.
But it was really cool seeingit.
(19:16):
I really liked it.
I took a lot of pictures of it.
That's the kind of thing that Isend to my friends when I go to
jewelry shows.
Another one I went to this watchlocation and they had all like
used and refurbished luxurywatch names.
They had all these luxurywatches and I really liked them.
(19:37):
I got to see all of the youknow.
I got to see my grail watch.
A grail is kind of somethingthat they refer to I'm sure you
all know this but refer to as awatch.
That is, you know, kind of yourchase and for some reason I've
always had there's one inparticular.
I won't mention it here becauseI'm increasingly being told to
(19:59):
not mention watch names ever, soI'm not going to, but it was
cool getting to see them.
I talked to the guy for a while, asked what the prices were.
They weren't that bad.
I got to go to.
I went to Inox and I reallylike their stuff.
I also want to just throw thisout there, man.
It is a real.
There's a real lack in opennessof men's jewelry out there, man
(20:21):
.
I am just shocked at how littlemen's jewelry I saw on that
show floor.
Inox really stands out and theylean into it.
They had like a bar at theirbooth and you got to give them a
lot of respect for really goingall in on it, but they were
busy every single time I went.
I literally only got a chanceto talk to Sebastian for about
one second.
He's been on In the Loop beforewhat else?
(20:44):
I saw some jewelry on the strip,like in the casinos.
That I thought was really nicetoo, which is, you know, one of
the few times I ever reallyliked, you know, going out and
seeing jewelry not atindependent well, I think
they're independent jewelers,but not at jewelers that I would
(21:07):
know.
It's very different.
One thing I noticed about Vegaswas they were doing a lot of
selling jewelry with powers.
If you will like jewelry thatis like amethyst.
Oh, this will prevent you fromgetting a hangover, and this
thing is made with red cord andred cord will give you strength
and stuff like that.
That's what I noticed about alot of Vegas jewelry.
(21:27):
I have a little story later onabout where I bought my necklace
from and I thought they had afunny story.
Anyways, if that's your gig, Idon't mind it.
Enjoy yourself with your withyour powers.
It's not really for I don'tmind it.
Enjoy yourself with your, uh,with your powers.
Uh, it's not really for me.
It doesn't really do anythingfor me.
But, um, I don't know if thathelps you make sales.
Good for you.
I saw a lot of stuff with theopals and I really liked that.
(21:50):
I thought that opals they justare so different.
I also think that opals because, like the flex of color
sometimes, I think they can bepaired with literally anything.
I saw a lot of opals withsilver, which I thought was
really nice and they're a prettyattainable price point.
So I thought that that wasreally cool.
A lot of sapphire jewelry.
I think that sapphire it sortof feels like the non-diamond
(22:14):
jewelry that is, at least to me,the most popular and like the
most, like ready to wear.
So that was pretty cool.
I also talked to some jewelersabout like men's jewelry and I
talked to them about, like youknow, what do they wear, what
styles do they wear?
And a lot of the men that arejewelry store owners that I
(22:35):
talked to, they all had funnystories about buying their these
pieces over the counter.
One of our clients that we haddinner with quite a bit was
showing me this ring and it said, had the F word on it and it
was engraved, but it was likeall solid gold and he bought it
(22:56):
over the counter for, like youknow, scrap price and he was
like, oh, I like that and hekept it and other things like
you know, corded gold and peopleare selling it in for scrap and
they just, you know, buy it foressentially scrap price and
then they get a nice piece ofjewelry out of it.
But a lot of the men I noticedthat's how they were getting
their jewelry was just over thecounter purchases, which I
(23:16):
thought was kind of cool.
If I owned a jewelry store,that's probably what I would do
as well.
But overall I thought thatjewelry is an interesting space
point right now.
I think with the, it was allabout lab-grown diamonds for a
spell and now with the entry ofyou know, kind of uncertain
times when it comes to theeconomy, I think that that opens
(23:40):
the door to a few differentthings, that is, lower price
point items.
So, like I was mentioning about, like you know, opals or
alternatives, stones and thingslike that.
I saw a lot of citrines.
Um, I also think it opens upthe door to pure gold jewelry
where, like, people are buyinggold as like a almost like an
investment, or like a wearableinvestment, you might even say.
(24:02):
I thought that that was kind ofinteresting and I'm excited to
see where it goes.
I still really like jewelry.
As a tech guy who, you know,works fully remote, at a certain
point sometimes it feels likeI'm kind of removed from the
jewelry industry.
And then I go to one of theseshows and it does kind of get me
a little, a little jazzed up.
So I thought that was fun.
(24:23):
I wish that.
I wish that we talked moreabout jewelry and, like you know
the jewelry you might say.
So I think that was fun.
So at the end of one of thedays, uh Ross was a member of a
panel and he was talking aboutwhat's working in marketing and
e-commerce and jewelry and itwas a really cool conversation.
Unfortunately, it was super loud.
(24:45):
The end of the day is kind of aweird vibe, because some people
are packing up, some people arecoming and going.
It's mainly just the vendorshanging out.
I really liked the panel.
I also walked around afterwardsand I got a chance to look at
some of the different boots andstuff like that, but I didn't
have very much usable audio fromit, but it was cool.
(25:07):
I hope that we do more panels.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
Well, we're on the showcase stage at JCK 2025.
And we're ending on an amazingnote.
No, of course, saving the bestfor last year once we're working
in marketing for retail andonline commerce in 2025.
I'm giving it over to jen colinwilliams of jen colin williams
communications my name is rosspackroom.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I am ceo of powder benchmark.
We are a jewelry websiteplatform and marketing hc
specifically for the jewelryindustry.
I've been in the industry about30 years.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
So we're walking it's the last day of the show and we
just decided to walk into theluxury show and it is so cool.
It's very I don't know how doyou even describe like the
difference.
It's just like a different vibein.
Here 's a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
I don't know a very different vibe.
Yeah, it is very exclusive,very low-key, yeah, unwelcoming
if you're a vendor yeah, we gotturned down from all the private
rooms.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
We wanted to just go in and see um gabriel and co's
uh display but they rejected usat all turns and that is totally
okay, but, alas, all right.
So I just bought some jewelryat K and Out, karma and Luck
it's in.
Are we in the Venetian rightnow?
(26:33):
It's kind of late on Sunday andwe couldn't get into the Snoop
Dogg concert.
The line was too long and wejust went and bought a piece of
jewelry and, honestly, that wasthe coolest experience and like
very different.
And so we like went in and theyhave like all this, like stuff
(26:55):
that's like all about protectionand like like different, what
attributes?
yeah and we were like looking at, I tried on a bunch of stuff.
Honestly, this stuff is verymuch my style and we go and I
like tried on like a couplethings and the lady was super
helpful.
But what's so funny is so likewe go to buy I buy this you know
(27:17):
necklace, and then she puts itin this bag and like the bag is
really nice I'm looking at itright now.
It's got this greatillustration on it and it's in
like another, like little box,and it's not even like that big
of an expense.
I like it's like a you know 100bucks.
And and then she's like, oh,would you like me to bless it
for you?
And I was like, absolutely, sowe take it and she puts it in
(27:42):
what is that bowl called singing, a singing bowl.
So we go and put in a singingbowl, she puts it in there and
she, like you know, hits it withlike this, like gong or
whatever it's called.
She hits it and it's, like youknow, makes this nice noise and
she like said like a little Idon't know prayer over it or
something, and it kind of makesme feel kind of cool about it.
(28:05):
It's like more like yo, let'sgo.
It's so funny, but like, talkabout like a cool experience.
Is that worth like an extra?
Because, like, realistically,probably could have just walked
into JCK the largest jewelryshow in the frigging northern
hemisphere and found somethingvery similar to it and bought it
for like half the price.
(28:26):
But I get this cool bag and sheblessed it, she blessed it and
she hit the singing bowl acouple of times.
She did.
You know, and I just won thismoney playing blackjack at
dinner.
Perfect, there we go.
Very cool, 10 out of 10.
Experience Very Vegas.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Choose on what do I need to do?
Speaker 1 (28:47):
No, Ah, man, hey, it's the last day, so that's the
important part, and we're atBrevani again.
Hope he is looking around.
What did you guys get up tolast night?
Did you guys go to Snoop Dogg?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Snoop Bo-double-G.
He was DJ mostly.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yeah, he definitely dialed it in from the show that
we thought we were getting.
Yeah, we dialed it in from theshow that we thought we were
getting, yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Did you see Jason Derulo?
He was the headliner.
He was the headliner.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
Oh, that's surprising , which I thought was going to
be totally opposite.
And then I thought like he wasgoing to, I thought that like
Snoop was going to do his DJthing, then Jason was going to
do his thing, and then they weregoing to do out and perform a
couple songs.
But I think it all had to dowith and I think that's why he
wasn't performing is because hewas like let me just DJ this
shit.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
He definitely dialed it in.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Oh, it was dialed in.
Listen if I can't do me thenyou're not going to get that
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
I don't know.
We tried to get in and the linewas impressive.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I will say that we were in line for the way back of
the line and we were only inline for maybe 10 or 15 minutes.
It moved quick so it definitelyturned people away, I think.
But we were outside from thebeginning of the hotel and we
were like we're not, you know,from like beginning of the hotel
and we're like we're not goingto get in.
(30:12):
For hours it moved.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
That's what happened to me last year, so I turned
around and didn't go.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
But again, you know we're going to go all the way.
Wait in line to go see Snoopand then you get DJ Snoop.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
I'm pretty sure I listened to that on my Pandora
this morning.
It was very similar to whathappened last night.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Right.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Less humid 200 degrees.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
It was.
Yeah, it's definitely reallyhot.
That was the other part iswe're standing outside and it
was super hot, yeah, and like itwas so hot and humid, Like it
felt humid.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
It wasn't like the dry nice desert Barluka.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Barluka still barluka and losing money.
What goes better?
Well, we just kind of finishedup the the last day, just got
back to the airbnb, had a reallygood time.
It was, um, kind of like aquicker day.
I always laugh that the lastday kind of seems like it
actually is the one of the moresuccessful ones.
(31:12):
But, um, afterwards, hope and Iwent, uh, shopping and we went
to a whole bunch of the you knowthe shops, as they say, it has
like um, you know, we went toall the Gucci and Prada and you
know Givenchy, you Prada, andyou know Givenchy, you know
Givenchy, I guess it is um, allthe different shops and it was
(31:32):
really cool and Hope bought somenice stuff and I bought some
sneakers because I love them andthey are Jordan fours, in case
you're curious and uh, yeah, Ithink that we're actually going
to call it kind of early.
It's only 11 PM and, uh, wejust got back to the Airbnb, so
we're just gonna probably that'sgoing to be where we call it
kind of early.
It's only 11 pm and we just gotback to the Airbnb, so we're
(31:54):
just going to probably that'sgoing to be where we call it.
Yeah, vegas is a weird place.
That's what I'll say.
I think it's very much theantithesis of everything I
really like, but I still kind ofreally like Vegas a little bit.
I don't know.
There's something likeenchanting about it.
Well, everybody, that's thetrip to JCK, las Vegas and full
(32:19):
disclosure.
This episode is recorded a fewweeks later and I've had a
little bit of time to thinkabout my time in the desert and
what did I think about it.
Well, one thing I'll say is I'mkind of re-inspired about
jewelry again and it's kind offunny to think about how we do a
lot of talking about the storyof the jewelry and a lot about,
like, who sells you the jewelryand how to sell more jewelry,
(32:41):
and sometimes I feel like I justkind of don't talk about the
jewelry as much.
And you know what I think I'mgoing to try to do that a little
bit more on In the Loop.
I really like jewelry.
I think it's fun.
I notice it on everybody nowyou know more than I did eight
years ago when I first started.
(33:11):
I think that Vegas is very muchagain the antithesis of who I am
and also how I sort of see myrelationship with, like, nature
and the environment and thingslike that I live in a place, the
Adirondacks, that are known forhaving this kind of closer
relationship between humans andthe environment, and when you go
out to Vegas it's dry and itjust defies logic.
You are in the desert, you arein this place that if humans had
(33:31):
had their choice, they wouldnot have settled it.
While we were there it was 108degrees true temp.
True temp.
That's insane, 108 degrees.
But then I also kind of thoughtabout how earlier this winter I
had some friends visiting andthey were pretty incredulous
that on the day that theyarrived it was negative 37
(33:54):
degrees Fahrenheit true temp.
And you know what.
Maybe it's just differentstrokes for different folks, and
I can kind of appreciate that.
Um, I really liked getting achance to see people face to
face and kind of put a face witha name.
Sometimes, when you know I workfully remote, I'm pretty
removed from things and it kindof feels like these people are
(34:16):
just another email address orthey're just another company
that we work with.
But when you go out and youshake their hands you realize
that pretty much everybody'sreally nice, really nice.
And what's really cool also isthat jewelry is such a personal
and relationship driven businessthat pretty much everybody
that's there are excellent atthat.
(34:38):
I always joke about, you know,iq and EQ EQ just being about
like emotional, like abilitiesand stuff like that, and I
really think that people that goto jewelry shows a lot of times
have really high EQ and theyknow how to work a room.
They know how to shake handsand smile and be great, and I
thought it was really coolgetting to see people be good at
(34:59):
their craft.
I think that I also realizedthat when you approach a
different city, even if it's LasVegas, and you get a chance to
kind of be re-inspired aboutthings, I got re-inspired about
food.
I had some incredible meals inLas Vegas.
I mean it's.
(35:19):
Some people say that Las Vegasis the center of food in the
entire world because of the factthat there's no like central
culture there.
You know it's just how good andlike incredible of an
experience can you make it.
And I can confidently say thatevery single thing I ate in Las
(35:40):
Vegas was excellent, with theexception of the trade show
lunch food man.
That stuff was not good but Igot inspired and I had some cool
steaks.
I met some really cool peopleand if I met you, thanks so much
.
It was really cool, but I thinkthat's where I'll end it.
Maybe I'll see you at JCK LasVegas in 2026.
(36:03):
Cheers, see you out there.
Bye, all right, everybody.
That's the end of the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
This episode was brought to youby Punchmark and produced and
hosted by me, michael Burpo.
A very special thank you, asalways, goes out to our editor,
paul Suarez, for making sense ofmy GarageBand file.
(36:25):
There's a lot of clips.
I appreciate you.
The music is by Ross Cockrum.
Don't forget to rate thepodcast on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts.
If this is your first timelistening to In the Loop, maybe
share this with your friends orsubscribe.
We make a new episode everyTuesday.
Cheers, see you out there.
Bye, thank you.
Welcome to In the Loop, and my main goal was to
meet as many vendors andpartners as I could and start
working on developing individualrelationships with them, which
I feel like I was able to.
But along the way I had a lotof fun, ate a lot of steaks, a
lot of Italian food, and I justhad a great time.
Las Vegas is not exactly my cupof tea, but it is kind of
(00:41):
intoxicating to go for a shortwhile and I think I really got
my fill of it and had a greattime.
If you went, maybe you'llsympathize and understand some
of the things I talk about, andif you didn't go, well, maybe
you can live a little bitvicariously through me.
All that to be said, pleaseenjoy my trip to JCK Las Vegas.
Enjoy.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Vegas Enjoy.
This episode is brought to youby Punchmark, the jewelry
industry's favorite websiteplatform and digital growth
agency.
Our mission reaches way beyondtechnology.
With decades of experience andlong-lasting industry
relationships, punchmark enablesjewelry businesses to flourish
in any marketplace.
We consider our clients ourfriends, as many of them have
been friends way before becomingclients.
Punchmark's own success comesfrom the fact that we have a
(01:30):
much deeper need and obligationto help our friends succeed.
Whether you're looking forbetter e-commerce performance,
business growth or campaignsthat drive traffic and sales,
punchmark's website andmarketing services were made
just for you.
It's never too late totransform your business and
stitch together your digital andphysical worlds in a way that
achieves tremendous growth andresults.
(01:51):
Schedule a guided demo today atpunchmarkcom.
Slash go.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
And now back to the show show.
Well, it's the morning of dayone.
Yesterday was day zero a lot oftravel.
I woke up at 4 am, eastern time, and kept on going until just
(02:22):
about a full 24 hours.
It was a long day.
We had an amazing dinner atCarmine's.
Carmine's is like this Italianplace.
They do family style serving,so everybody you know takes a
little bit puts on their plate.
Super good, we had a wholebunch of clients out with us and
I don't know.
Just really really a fun time.
And then we went to this placecalled Electra, which is right
in the center of one of thecasinos.
(02:43):
It's kind of like where all thejewelers hang out.
So it's kind of cool.
You go in there and Tommy andJason recognize 50% of the
people.
So yeah, today I think we'regoing to take an Uber at about 9
am here, which feels a littlebit late for me, but whatever,
we're going to get there and Ithink we don't have much of a
setup.
All we have to do is just showup, make sure that the computers
(03:04):
are working.
But Vegas is just it's a strangething, it's.
The place is so just defiesevery law imaginable.
You know, it's like right inthe middle of a desert.
It's bumping until two in themorning, four in the morning, it
doesn't matter.
I gambled a little bit lastnight, didn't end up winning.
(03:24):
Played some roulette, it wasfun, but uh, man, it's easy just
to lose.
It is, but it was fun.
So time to go sell somewebsites.
Hopefully we get just.
I just want to get one thenwe're not scum.
That's all I think about manwalking in the show show floor
and it is bustling.
There's like nine millionpeople.
It's super cool, awesome.
(03:46):
Can I grab one as well?
Thank you so much.
Oh, super cool.
I just got one, an effy, uhtote bag, and it's super nice.
Whoa, these things must havecost a lot of money to make.
Holy smokes.
Yo, these are sick.
Thank you, just time.
Scan my badge.
And now I gotta find where ourbooth is, because I don't
remember.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Just a beeline that way, yeah, and then it's exactly
where it is.
That's right, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
One thing I've been thinking about a lot as I've
gotten back from JCK is almostjust the scale of JCK, and when
I come back, a lot of times myfriends ask me that are not in
the jewelry industry hey, howwas the jewelry show?
And I sometimes don't even knowhow to describe it to them.
Oh, like you know, did you seeany big diamonds?
(04:34):
It's like yes, I saw thebiggest diamonds you ever even
conceived.
Oh, did you see anything thatyou really wanted?
Yes, I saw so much jewelry Iwould have loved to have had.
Did you buy anything?
Yeah, I bought a little bit ofjewelry, but it's hard to convey
the scale to people and I thinkthat's one of those things that
you can hear me talking about.
Oh, we got to find out where weare.
(04:57):
For me to go to the bathroom,which I was doing quite a bit,
because you're living in adesert for Vegas, you're just
pumping a desert, for, you know,vegas, you're just pumping
water into your body so that youcan try to stave off
dehydration.
If I'm going to the bathroomevery hour, it took like 10
minutes round trip to walk allthe way to to the bathroom and
(05:21):
then you have to like go up andit's just that there are
thousands of booths and there'sthousands of people walking
around and I almost struggle toreally kind of convey just how
overwhelming and how insane JCKreally is.
I think any jewelry show,whether that's IJO or RJO or
even the Atlanta AJS, theyreally are just so overwhelming.
(05:46):
But JCK in particular the factthat Punchmark is located
downstairs in the tech andessentials section.
So we're down there in EdgeVillage right next to the Edge
and Edge Retail Academy and someof the other Punchmark partners
like Podium and ClientBook andI for Fraud, a couple of those
people, and we are in thesmallest area and it made me
(06:09):
laugh that like we weren't evenon the same floor as all of the
other jewelry.
Uh, like the real jewelry stuffwas on the main floor and is
just so vast and I walked aroundwith hope a couple of days and
it was really cool getting tosee stuff and I only think I saw
like 1%, maybe not even 1%.
(06:31):
And that's not even mentioningthe fact that there's also the
luxury show, which I also wentand checked out too.
Luxury is just like the factthat there's a whole different
section, the fact that you can'tget into it.
It's just so bizarre to me andit's almost like it defies
reality and defies logic.
I don't know.
(06:53):
I don't know if you ever feelthat experience or if you've
been going to trade shows for somany years that you just can't,
that it doesn't really impactyou.
Or maybe you're a retailer andthat's kind of exactly what you
want.
But as a vendor I can say, man,it is so big.
All right, we started day two,day three overall, but day two,
(07:14):
and it was super fun.
Yesterday we went to a placecalled Toca Madera Super fancy
steakhouse, really nice.
They have like fire dancers andlike live guitarists while you
eat steaks and it's very Vegas-y.
But now we're back on the showfloor.
We had a good day yesterday.
It was super slow for like thefirst hour and a half and I was
(07:35):
like, oh my God, what if it'sslow the entire time?
And then, like you know, theneveryone shows up and then
you're slammed for the entireday.
One thing I always find funnyabout jewelry shows is lunch is
always like so hit or miss.
It's like here we are eatingthe most fanciest, nicest
dinners and stuff, and thenlunch is always like I don't
(07:56):
know, like a weird, like burritowrap or like a flatbread pizza
or something.
It's like trade shows are justweird places.
Time doesn't really make anysense, food doesn't really make
any sense.
You just kind of exist for fourdays.
But yeah, hopefully we haveanother good day.
We just got to the spot.
We're all set up.
I feel bad.
Some people have to set up evenearlier.
(08:17):
So, yeah, hopefully we stillhave a couple more sites.
All right, I'm with Hope.
Last night was super fun.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Super fun.
Socomadero is the best.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And yesterday we were pretty busy at the booth all
day, but we didn't actually geta chance to walk around very
much, and I think that this timeI'm going to try my hardest to
get upstairs and walk around.
Also, there's so much jewelryupstairs.
I thought that there wasjewelry downstairs and it's only
like it's all tech mainly.
So upstairs is all jewelry andit's even.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
It's so sparkly it's going to be really hard not to
buy everything that I see.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
It will be easy for me because I would just run out
of money rather quickly, as bythe first store, but it's very
cool.
Yeah, I think it'll be a goodstart to the day.
So we're walking around in themiddle of day two and we just
walked through the Plum Clubsection.
Really pretty, very cool.
(09:15):
They have such a nice carpet.
I'm obsessed with their carpet.
I'm with Jason.
Hello, jason hates us.
Yeah, some really cool stuffout here.
So I want to elaborate just alittle bit more about the Plum
Club section.
So the Plum Club is this groupof vendors that's jewelry
vendors that are I don't knowkind of work together.
(09:37):
We actually do their websitefor them, which is this virtual
show floor, kind of cool.
But what's really neat aboutthe Plum Club is that they have
this carpet and I man I'vetalked about it so many times, I
almost feel silly talking aboutit, but it's so funny that the
carpet is so it's a greatadvertising tool Because when
you walk in there I think thatthere's less reverberation and I
(10:00):
think it kind of captures likea lot of the noise, so it's like
a little bit quieter.
I think it's a little bit likebetter temperature in there.
It's not as hot and the wholething is just like a very
different feeling space.
I also thought that aboutluxury, the luxury show.
It kind of felt very much likea separate spot.
We have a lot of our premiumvendors are members of the Plum
(10:22):
Club, like Ospy and ColorMerchants and Imperial Pearls
and Benchmark and RembrandtCharms, and I got a chance to
walk around and try to shakehands with as many of them as I
could.
It's the start of day three.
We are walking the extensiveway all the way to the
essentials and tech section, theEdge Village, past the
(10:47):
different lasers and whatnot.
I'm joined by Andy.
How are you doing today, andy?
I'm doing well.
How are you and where are youwith?
I'm joined by Andy.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
today, andy, I'm doing well.
How are you and where are youwith?
I'm with Barani and ColorMerchants.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Very cool and you've been having a good show so far.
What's the traffic been like?
It's been an amazing show,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
We've done very, very well here and I'm extremely
pleased with the work that'sbeen put in.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
But you guys were getting up to some really fun
stuff.
Last night.
What were you guys doing?
Absolutely, we went to go seeDeadmau5.
That's amazing.
I've always wanted to see him.
Tonight is going to be theSnoop Dogg concert and Jason
Derulo.
I'm very excited, jason DeruloHa no, I think it'll be good,
(11:29):
but it doesn't start until 9, soit's going to be kind of a
little bit of a later start.
But what are you guys?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
doing for dinner?
Anything fun.
We have a salesman dinner andwe just kind of, you know, at
the end of the show we just alllike to just talk and, you know,
have a nice dinner togetherbefore we start off into the
wild of the second half of theyear?
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Oh gosh, but do you guys discuss what sold well,
what doesn't sell well?
Is that kind of the point of it?
Or what the sentiments of thecustomer are?
What are you guys discussing?
Speaker 2 (11:59):
mainly so.
Honestly, it's just aboutcommunication.
It's how can we support you?
These are all independentsalespeople and we just want to
be there for their support.
I'm not going to tell asalesman that's been on the road
for 40 years how to do his job.
I just want to let him knowthat, because I am the sales
(12:21):
manager, I'm going to be yoursupport.
So when I communicate to himthat I want to help you, and
when that comes is basicallythey're bringing in a line of
four different lines because hejust spoke to me to support, I'm
going to be the first one outof the bag.
(12:41):
Oh, very cool.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
So you guys have Color Merchants and Burdani
under one house, essentially,absolutely, are sales reps.
Are they specific to one or arethey both typically?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So Color Merchants is the parent company and when
Allison came on board she didn'twant to be pigeonholed into
color, so she created Bravani.
So we can expand the line todiamond fashion, our dashing
diamond line, and a lot of realpretty designs.
(13:13):
Because of that it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Thank you so much, andy, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
No, thank you very much, I appreciate you Cheers.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Oh, it's been a long, long third day.
I am a little bit more cookedthan I normally am at this stage
.
It's right about to be 5o'clock, so we got another hour.
We're also going to do a panelthat I'm going to try to get to
so I can record a little bit ofthe audio.
But yeah, just, it's been along day.
(13:41):
I feel like I was getting beatup and I think that also some of
the people dipped a little bitearly.
So I got a chance to meet allof the, or a whole bunch of the
premium vendors that work withPunchmark, and a lot of them are
in the Plum Club.
So it's cool.
I just went in there and, youknow, walked around a lot and
you got to shake a lot of handsand put some faces with some
names and, man, there's someawesome, awesome jewelry.
(14:04):
I really I'm not going tomention any names because I'm
not going to be paid to besponsored by them, but there's
some really beautiful jewelryout there that I'm hoping maybe
I might buy something on thelast day, tomorrow.
But JCK, man, it's exhausting,it's tiring, but it really is
one of a kind.
(14:24):
All right, everybody, we'regoing to take a quick break and
hear a word from our sponsor.
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(14:44):
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Wow, it's a hell of a deal.
Anyways, make your appointmentat punchmarkcom, slash
appointments and now back to theshow.
And we're back, and you knowwhat I decided I'm gonna start
(15:44):
doing something new when I go tothese jewelry shows and
hopefully I go to a couple morenow that I've, uh, started
leading the vendor program atpunch mark.
Uh, I want to talk about thejewelry I was really excited for
, and I think I'm going to tryto do this without really
mentioning too many brand namesbecause, in the end, like I
don't want people to feelexcluded or whatever, but I
sometimes feel like in jewelryshows like, sometimes people
(16:04):
like they almost like kind ofdodge the question of like the
actual jewelry and a lot of it'sabout the relationships and
like the people and like themarketing and the sales and the
actual selling of jewelry.
But sometimes I feel like wedon't really talk enough about
like the jewelry.
You know what I mean.
Like, oh, I love this style.
(16:24):
Like this style is really kindof coming in.
So I want to talk about some ofthe stuff that I saw also at
JCK, just in general and that Igot really inspired by, and I'm
going to spend I think fiveminutes, six minutes, talking
about some jewelry that I liked.
You can skip this part if youdon't like jewelry, but if
you're listening, I assume youlike jewelry.
All right, first things first.
(16:44):
Yo, I mentioned in thebeginning of this episode but
this Effie tote bag.
I was blown away by the qualityof it and you get it for free.
So everybody was walking aroundwith it and that's this really
cool drawing of this pantherwalking down like New York City
and I thought that was reallycool.
That was really well done.
All right, what else?
The jewelry.
(17:07):
I spent a bunch of time atBrevani and I thought that their
jewelry was really nice.
I um, it feels like one of thefew brands that I noticed.
It felt like their jewelrylooked like what is going to be
popular in five months or sixmonths, like around Christmas.
It's not to say that all theothers are old, but I feel like
(17:28):
all of the a lot of the otherbrands that I had looked at, uh,
jewelry was very like,established, like it's the
classic stuff.
But with what I liked about theBravani stuff, it's like a lot
of these, you know, colorful,beautiful stones, a lot of
rubies, a lot of sapphires, withthese kind of more elegant
(17:48):
dainty settings.
I thought that was really nice.
Don't get me wrong, I like them, so I'm not just saying that,
but I thought that that wasworth shouting out.
What else did I like as far asjewelry?
I'm looking through my phonebecause I took a lot of photos
of jewelry and sent it to somepeople.
Ah, yes, here's one inparticular.
I walked by I don't even havethe name of this location, but I
(18:12):
got to see 24 karat pure gold Iguess it is, and it was this
one necklace it looked kind oflike a rising sun, so it had all
these rubies, like a halfcircle of rubies, with all these
pieces coming out that were inthis yellow, yellow gold Like I
took a picture of it because thegold it almost looks orange.
(18:33):
It was incredible and it hadlike a brooch, a bracelet or a
bangle, I guess, and like a ringmaybe, and they all kind of
went together all with thatyellow gold.
And the guy was telling me thatthe gold for them to use, for
them to make, and why it looksso yellow is because it's like
99.9 something percent pure gold.
(18:55):
Kind of had me thinking like Iwonder if it makes it like
really soft, like if you have toworry about, like what if you
bump it on like a table or ifyou like, I don't know, drop it
or something that you drop,something that priceless.
But this thing is, I'm sure,well, well into the six figures
at cost.
I'm sure it retails forprobably in the millions.
But it was really cool seeingit.
(19:16):
I really liked it.
I took a lot of pictures of it.
That's the kind of thing that Isend to my friends when I go to
jewelry shows.
Another one I went to this watchlocation and they had all like
used and refurbished luxurywatch names.
They had all these luxurywatches and I really liked them.
(19:37):
I got to see all of the youknow.
I got to see my grail watch.
A grail is kind of somethingthat they refer to I'm sure you
all know this but refer to as awatch.
That is, you know, kind of yourchase and for some reason I've
always had there's one inparticular.
I won't mention it here becauseI'm increasingly being told to
(19:59):
not mention watch names ever, soI'm not going to, but it was
cool getting to see them.
I talked to the guy for a while, asked what the prices were.
They weren't that bad.
I got to go to.
I went to Inox and I reallylike their stuff.
I also want to just throw thisout there, man.
It is a real.
There's a real lack in opennessof men's jewelry out there, man
(20:21):
.
I am just shocked at how littlemen's jewelry I saw on that
show floor.
Inox really stands out and theylean into it.
They had like a bar at theirbooth and you got to give them a
lot of respect for really goingall in on it, but they were
busy every single time I went.
I literally only got a chanceto talk to Sebastian for about
one second.
He's been on In the Loop beforewhat else?
(20:44):
I saw some jewelry on the strip,like in the casinos.
That I thought was really nicetoo, which is, you know, one of
the few times I ever reallyliked, you know, going out and
seeing jewelry not atindependent well, I think
they're independent jewelers,but not at jewelers that I would
(21:07):
know.
It's very different.
One thing I noticed about Vegaswas they were doing a lot of
selling jewelry with powers.
If you will like jewelry thatis like amethyst.
Oh, this will prevent you fromgetting a hangover, and this
thing is made with red cord andred cord will give you strength
and stuff like that.
That's what I noticed about alot of Vegas jewelry.
(21:27):
I have a little story later onabout where I bought my necklace
from and I thought they had afunny story.
Anyways, if that's your gig, Idon't mind it.
Enjoy yourself with your withyour powers.
It's not really for I don'tmind it.
Enjoy yourself with your, uh,with your powers.
Uh, it's not really for me.
It doesn't really do anythingfor me.
But, um, I don't know if thathelps you make sales.
Good for you.
I saw a lot of stuff with theopals and I really liked that.
(21:50):
I thought that opals they justare so different.
I also think that opals because, like the flex of color
sometimes, I think they can bepaired with literally anything.
I saw a lot of opals withsilver, which I thought was
really nice and they're a prettyattainable price point.
So I thought that that wasreally cool.
A lot of sapphire jewelry.
I think that sapphire it sortof feels like the non-diamond
(22:14):
jewelry that is, at least to me,the most popular and like the
most, like ready to wear.
So that was pretty cool.
I also talked to some jewelersabout like men's jewelry and I
talked to them about, like youknow, what do they wear, what
styles do they wear?
And a lot of the men that arejewelry store owners that I
(22:35):
talked to, they all had funnystories about buying their these
pieces over the counter.
One of our clients that we haddinner with quite a bit was
showing me this ring and it said, had the F word on it and it
was engraved, but it was likeall solid gold and he bought it
(22:56):
over the counter for, like youknow, scrap price and he was
like, oh, I like that and hekept it and other things like
you know, corded gold and peopleare selling it in for scrap and
they just, you know, buy it foressentially scrap price and
then they get a nice piece ofjewelry out of it.
But a lot of the men I noticedthat's how they were getting
their jewelry was just over thecounter purchases, which I
(23:16):
thought was kind of cool.
If I owned a jewelry store,that's probably what I would do
as well.
But overall I thought thatjewelry is an interesting space
point right now.
I think with the, it was allabout lab-grown diamonds for a
spell and now with the entry ofyou know, kind of uncertain
times when it comes to theeconomy, I think that that opens
(23:40):
the door to a few differentthings, that is, lower price
point items.
So, like I was mentioning about, like you know, opals or
alternatives, stones and thingslike that.
I saw a lot of citrines.
Um, I also think it opens upthe door to pure gold jewelry
where, like, people are buyinggold as like a almost like an
investment, or like a wearableinvestment, you might even say.
(24:02):
I thought that that was kind ofinteresting and I'm excited to
see where it goes.
I still really like jewelry.
As a tech guy who, you know,works fully remote, at a certain
point sometimes it feels likeI'm kind of removed from the
jewelry industry.
And then I go to one of theseshows and it does kind of get me
a little, a little jazzed up.
So I thought that was fun.
(24:23):
I wish that.
I wish that we talked moreabout jewelry and, like you know
the jewelry you might say.
So I think that was fun.
So at the end of one of thedays, uh Ross was a member of a
panel and he was talking aboutwhat's working in marketing and
e-commerce and jewelry and itwas a really cool conversation.
Unfortunately, it was super loud.
(24:45):
The end of the day is kind of aweird vibe, because some people
are packing up, some people arecoming and going.
It's mainly just the vendorshanging out.
I really liked the panel.
I also walked around afterwardsand I got a chance to look at
some of the different boots andstuff like that, but I didn't
have very much usable audio fromit, but it was cool.
(25:07):
I hope that we do more panels.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
Well, we're on the showcase stage at JCK 2025.
And we're ending on an amazingnote.
No, of course, saving the bestfor last year once we're working
in marketing for retail andonline commerce in 2025.
I'm giving it over to jen colinwilliams of jen colin williams
communications my name is rosspackroom.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I am ceo of powder benchmark.
We are a jewelry websiteplatform and marketing hc
specifically for the jewelryindustry.
I've been in the industry about30 years.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
So we're walking it's the last day of the show and we
just decided to walk into theluxury show and it is so cool.
It's very I don't know how doyou even describe like the
difference.
It's just like a different vibein.
Here 's a little bit more.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
I don't know a very different vibe.
Yeah, it is very exclusive,very low-key, yeah, unwelcoming
if you're a vendor yeah, we gotturned down from all the private
rooms.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
We wanted to just go in and see um gabriel and co's
uh display but they rejected usat all turns and that is totally
okay, but, alas, all right.
So I just bought some jewelryat K and Out, karma and Luck
it's in.
Are we in the Venetian rightnow?
(26:33):
It's kind of late on Sunday andwe couldn't get into the Snoop
Dogg concert.
The line was too long and wejust went and bought a piece of
jewelry and, honestly, that wasthe coolest experience and like
very different.
And so we like went in and theyhave like all this, like stuff
(26:55):
that's like all about protectionand like like different, what
attributes?
yeah and we were like looking at, I tried on a bunch of stuff.
Honestly, this stuff is verymuch my style and we go and I
like tried on like a couplethings and the lady was super
helpful.
But what's so funny is so likewe go to buy I buy this you know
(27:17):
necklace, and then she puts itin this bag and like the bag is
really nice I'm looking at itright now.
It's got this greatillustration on it and it's in
like another, like little box,and it's not even like that big
of an expense.
I like it's like a you know 100bucks.
And and then she's like, oh,would you like me to bless it
for you?
And I was like, absolutely, sowe take it and she puts it in
(27:42):
what is that bowl called singing, a singing bowl.
So we go and put in a singingbowl, she puts it in there and
she, like you know, hits it withlike this, like gong or
whatever it's called.
She hits it and it's, like youknow, makes this nice noise and
she like said like a little Idon't know prayer over it or
something, and it kind of makesme feel kind of cool about it.
(28:05):
It's like more like yo, let'sgo.
It's so funny, but like, talkabout like a cool experience.
Is that worth like an extra?
Because, like, realistically,probably could have just walked
into JCK the largest jewelryshow in the frigging northern
hemisphere and found somethingvery similar to it and bought it
for like half the price.
(28:26):
But I get this cool bag and sheblessed it, she blessed it and
she hit the singing bowl acouple of times.
She did.
You know, and I just won thismoney playing blackjack at
dinner.
Perfect, there we go.
Very cool, 10 out of 10.
Experience Very Vegas.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Choose on what do I need to do?
Speaker 1 (28:47):
No, Ah, man, hey, it's the last day, so that's the
important part, and we're atBrevani again.
Hope he is looking around.
What did you guys get up tolast night?
Did you guys go to Snoop Dogg?
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Snoop Bo-double-G.
He was DJ mostly.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yeah, he definitely dialed it in from the show that
we thought we were getting.
Yeah, we dialed it in from theshow that we thought we were
getting, yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Did you see Jason Derulo?
He was the headliner.
He was the headliner.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
Oh, that's surprising , which I thought was going to
be totally opposite.
And then I thought like he wasgoing to, I thought that like
Snoop was going to do his DJthing, then Jason was going to
do his thing, and then they weregoing to do out and perform a
couple songs.
But I think it all had to dowith and I think that's why he
wasn't performing is because hewas like let me just DJ this
shit.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
He definitely dialed it in.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Oh, it was dialed in.
Listen if I can't do me thenyou're not going to get that
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
I don't know.
We tried to get in and the linewas impressive.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I will say that we were in line for the way back of
the line and we were only inline for maybe 10 or 15 minutes.
It moved quick so it definitelyturned people away, I think.
But we were outside from thebeginning of the hotel and we
were like we're not, you know,from like beginning of the hotel
and we're like we're not goingto get in.
(30:12):
For hours it moved.
Speaker 4 (30:15):
That's what happened to me last year, so I turned
around and didn't go.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
But again, you know we're going to go all the way.
Wait in line to go see Snoopand then you get DJ Snoop.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
I'm pretty sure I listened to that on my Pandora
this morning.
It was very similar to whathappened last night.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Right.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Less humid 200 degrees.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
It was.
Yeah, it's definitely reallyhot.
That was the other part iswe're standing outside and it
was super hot, yeah, and like itwas so hot and humid, Like it
felt humid.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
It wasn't like the dry nice desert Barluka.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Barluka still barluka and losing money.
What goes better?
Well, we just kind of finishedup the the last day, just got
back to the airbnb, had a reallygood time.
It was, um, kind of like aquicker day.
I always laugh that the lastday kind of seems like it
actually is the one of the moresuccessful ones.
(31:12):
But, um, afterwards, hope and Iwent, uh, shopping and we went
to a whole bunch of the you knowthe shops, as they say, it has
like um, you know, we went toall the Gucci and Prada and you
know Givenchy, you Prada, andyou know Givenchy, you know
Givenchy, I guess it is um, allthe different shops and it was
(31:32):
really cool and Hope bought somenice stuff and I bought some
sneakers because I love them andthey are Jordan fours, in case
you're curious and uh, yeah, Ithink that we're actually going
to call it kind of early.
It's only 11 PM and, uh, wejust got back to the Airbnb, so
we're just gonna probably that'sgoing to be where we call it
kind of early.
It's only 11 pm and we just gotback to the Airbnb, so we're
(31:54):
just going to probably that'sgoing to be where we call it.
Yeah, vegas is a weird place.
That's what I'll say.
I think it's very much theantithesis of everything I
really like, but I still kind ofreally like Vegas a little bit.
I don't know.
There's something likeenchanting about it.
Well, everybody, that's thetrip to JCK, las Vegas and full
(32:19):
disclosure.
This episode is recorded a fewweeks later and I've had a
little bit of time to thinkabout my time in the desert and
what did I think about it.
Well, one thing I'll say is I'mkind of re-inspired about
jewelry again and it's kind offunny to think about how we do a
lot of talking about the storyof the jewelry and a lot about,
like, who sells you the jewelryand how to sell more jewelry,
(32:41):
and sometimes I feel like I justkind of don't talk about the
jewelry as much.
And you know what I think I'mgoing to try to do that a little
bit more on In the Loop.
I really like jewelry.
I think it's fun.
I notice it on everybody nowyou know more than I did eight
years ago when I first started.
(33:11):
I think that Vegas is very muchagain the antithesis of who I am
and also how I sort of see myrelationship with, like, nature
and the environment and thingslike that I live in a place, the
Adirondacks, that are known forhaving this kind of closer
relationship between humans andthe environment, and when you go
out to Vegas it's dry and itjust defies logic.
You are in the desert, you arein this place that if humans had
(33:31):
had their choice, they wouldnot have settled it.
While we were there it was 108degrees true temp.
True temp.
That's insane, 108 degrees.
But then I also kind of thoughtabout how earlier this winter I
had some friends visiting andthey were pretty incredulous
that on the day that theyarrived it was negative 37
(33:54):
degrees Fahrenheit true temp.
And you know what.
Maybe it's just differentstrokes for different folks, and
I can kind of appreciate that.
Um, I really liked getting achance to see people face to
face and kind of put a face witha name.
Sometimes, when you know I workfully remote, I'm pretty
removed from things and it kindof feels like these people are
(34:16):
just another email address orthey're just another company
that we work with.
But when you go out and youshake their hands you realize
that pretty much everybody'sreally nice, really nice.
And what's really cool also isthat jewelry is such a personal
and relationship driven businessthat pretty much everybody
that's there are excellent atthat.
(34:38):
I always joke about, you know,iq and EQ EQ just being about
like emotional, like abilitiesand stuff like that, and I
really think that people that goto jewelry shows a lot of times
have really high EQ and theyknow how to work a room.
They know how to shake handsand smile and be great, and I
thought it was really coolgetting to see people be good at
(34:59):
their craft.
I think that I also realizedthat when you approach a
different city, even if it's LasVegas, and you get a chance to
kind of be re-inspired aboutthings, I got re-inspired about
food.
I had some incredible meals inLas Vegas.
I mean it's.
(35:19):
Some people say that Las Vegasis the center of food in the
entire world because of the factthat there's no like central
culture there.
You know it's just how good andlike incredible of an
experience can you make it.
And I can confidently say thatevery single thing I ate in Las
(35:40):
Vegas was excellent, with theexception of the trade show
lunch food man.
That stuff was not good but Igot inspired and I had some cool
steaks.
I met some really cool peopleand if I met you, thanks so much
.
It was really cool, but I thinkthat's where I'll end it.
Maybe I'll see you at JCK LasVegas in 2026.
(36:03):
Cheers, see you out there.
Bye, all right, everybody.
That's the end of the show.
Thanks so much for listening.
This episode was brought to youby Punchmark and produced and
hosted by me, michael Burpo.
A very special thank you, asalways, goes out to our editor,
paul Suarez, for making sense ofmy GarageBand file.
(36:25):
There's a lot of clips.
I appreciate you.
The music is by Ross Cockrum.
Don't forget to rate thepodcast on Spotify and Apple
Podcasts.
If this is your first timelistening to In the Loop, maybe
share this with your friends orsubscribe.
We make a new episode everyTuesday.
Cheers, see you out there.
Bye, thank you.
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