Sylvie’s Gary Levine On The Brand’s Evolution – JCK

If youll be at the Luxury show in Las Vegas this year (it opens June 8 to invited guests and June 10 for all JCK attendees), stop by the Sylvie booth to see what a brand evolution looks like. The Plano, Texasbased bridal manufacturer and longtime Luxury exhibitor recently unveiled a new logo, new typography, and new brand campaign on the occasion of its 15th anniversary.

Spearheaded by Gary Levine, the companys director of operations (and eldest son of company founders Ian and Sylvie Levine), the rebranding project is a very deliberate effort to position Sylvie for several more decades of growth.

This is very much about evolving into our next chapter and celebrating our heritage and better communicating our vision and our story, Levine tells JCK. Particularly the love story between my parents Ian and Sylvie, and the details in the designs of our products.

Levine joined the family business last August, after leaving a career in finance. The branding initiative was among his first orders of business.

The first thing we did was we talked to a handful of our strongest and closest customers, Levine says. We spoke to sales reps, particularly ones whod been with us for two decades plus, and we talked to people we know who have marketing backgrounds and brand experience and basically triangulated that into words, pictures, and ideas.

It became an iterative process that eventually turned into the new icon that we unveiled, new typography choices for our literature, having that be more feminine and uniquenot just fonts you could download from Google, he adds. We now have a custom font we worked with a designer to create.

The new Shine On brand campaign is a nod to Sylvies heritage and the bright future ahead, given the companys growth plans, according to a brand statement. Steeped in the companys new visual identity, the campaign features women who radiate youthful femininity, no matter their biological age, and are elegant, confident, and complex, Levine said in a statement.

In order to create the campaign, and fine-tune the brands strategy, Levine worked with his team to create fictional personas based on the customers who buy Sylvies products.

Every time we make a decision on marketing or the product side, we talk about, basically, the fake people we created, Levine says. We came up with where they shop, who they follow on Instagram. Thats what we did, and what you see is the product of all that.

In terms of actual products, however, much remains the same. The design hasnt changed at all, materially, Levine says. Thats whats been superstrong and has helped our company grow over the last 15 years and remain on trend.

At Luxury this year, buyers should expect to see many of the companys popular bridal styles displayed in yellow goldbecause its so hot, says Levinebigger center stones to compete with the rise of larger lab-grown center stones and a dedicated focus on the small details that set Sylvies designs apart.

Particularly taking existing styles we had and creating peekaboo or subtle details, which we find extremely popular these days, he says. Its the kind of thing you can only show a customer in a store and they find it amazing. Were trying to achieve those kinds of reactions and achieve the limits of whats possible in those small spaces. Thats really the crux of our new designs.

Top: Brianna ring in 18k yellow gold with 2 ct. pear-shape diamond center stone and 0.32 ct. t.w. diamond accents, $2,720 (center stone not included); photos courtesy of Sylvie

See more here:

Sylvie's Gary Levine On The Brand's Evolution - JCK