Dive Brief:
- DTC jewelry brand Ring Concierge on Monday announced it has named its first chief marketing officer in Neda Whitney.
- Whitney joins the company from Christie's where she served as its senior vice president and head of marketing for the Americas, according to details emailed to Retail Dive.
- In her new role, Whitney will oversee the company’s marketing and communications strategy and build out its creative department.
Dive Insight:
Ring Concierge has created a chief marketing officer position as it looks to grow its business.
“We are thrilled to welcome Neda, an accomplished marketing executive with an impressive track record in creating innovative marketing moments that engage both millennial audiences and luxury consumers around the world,” Nicole Wegman, CEO and founder of Ring Concierge, said in a statement. “As Ring Concierge continues to scale as one of the fastest growing fine jewelry brands in the US, marketing will play an increasingly central role in broadening our reach, appeal, and impact.”
Whitney has more than two decades of experience leading marketing teams and specializes in areas such as fashion, luxury and tech brands. In her role as Christie’s head of marketing for the Americas, Whitney created a marketing strategy for the region and led its creative, content and strategy departments. Prior to that, she served as senior vice president and managing director of client services at R/GA, a global advertising agency, where she worked with clients such as Tiffany & Co, L'Oréal, Unilever and Amazon.
Ring Concierge, which remains privately owned, seeks to be “one of the largest privately held jewelry brands in the US,” according to the announcement. Ring Concierge said it is profitable, reporting a positive net income since its first year, and has never taken outside funding.
The DTC jewelry space has exploded in recent years, with some brands finding exit opportunities amid the pandemic-fueled e-commerce boom. Blue Nile was acquired by jewelry giant Signet Jewelers in 2022 after a deal between the DTC brand and Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II — a special purpose acquisition company — to go public fell through. And Brilliant Earth a year earlier announced plans to go public via IPO.
For Ring Concierge’s part, the company said its fine jewelry sales saw a 104% increase over 2021.
As DTC brands more broadly begin to mature and seek scale, many are beginning to add positions to their C-suites. This year, Diptyque Americas named its first chief marketing officer while Canada Goose appointed its first chief digital officer. Before that menswear brand Mack Weldon hired its first chief marketer, while Parachute named its first CFO, chief merchandising officer and chief commercial officer.
