The national “May is Gold Month” promotion is set to begin its fourth year, and for the first time its sponsors are inviting independent retailers to participate.

The World Gold Council, Jewelry.com, Aurafin, and Bel-Oro Intl. and eleven leading U.S. retailers (Ben Bridge Jeweler, Finlay Fine Jewelry, Fred Meyer Jewelers, Helzberg Diamonds, JCPenney, Macy’s East, Macy’s West, ShopNBC, Sears, Sterling Jewelers Inc. and Zales) will launch a national advertising campaign featuring new gold jewelry collections with the aim of increasing consumer sales of gold jewelry in the month of May.

Independent retailers can participate by downloading the MIGM logo and point-of-sale materials from the World Gold Council’s www.marketing.gold.org Web site, beginning March 15. The promotion will raise funds and awareness for Jewelers for Children through a sweepstakes hosted on Jewelry.com. As part of the sweepstakes, Jewelry.com, the online consumer portal to several jewelry retailers and department stores, will make a contribution of ten cents, up to $50,000, for each completed entry in the sweepstakes.

More than $3 million has been dedicated to advertising and marketing support by all the partners to promote May is Gold Month. Aurafin and Bel-Oro will work with participating retailers to supply gold jewelry styles that are suitable for every self-purchase and gifting occasions.

The eleven official participating retailers will launch fashion forward gold jewelry assortments in a national media campaign with the tagline: “May is Gold Month: Treat Yourself and Those You Love.”

The campaign will run in national magazines such as Glamour, Good Housekeeping, Harpers Bazaar, InStyle, Lucky, Redbook, and Self. It will be supported at retail point-of-sale with signage, window displays, and direct mail catalogs; and through an online design competition sweepstakes. The May is Gold Month logo, tagline, and suggested artwork will be available mid-March for independent retailers to download from WGC Web site: www.marketing.gold.org.

May is Gold Month was conceived in 2004 by the World Gold Council and Jewelry.com to capitalize on the gifting and self-purchase occasions for gold jewelry during the month of May—which include Mother’s Day, graduation, spring romance, and bridal season. Springtime also represents self purchasing opportunities, according to the sponsors.

JCK