There was a time and not that long ago when many corporates ordering company ties or branded ties and corporate scarves would also order corporate jewellery in the form of cufflinks, pin badges, brooches, nameplates tie clips and many such other items to compliment the corporate ties and custom scarves they were ordering.

This was absolutely not an unusual thing especially when it came to long service gifts, the reason being that a huge amount of prestige was related to receiving one of these items or both ie custom ties with a service year or corporate scarves also with a service year attached.

These were given out to ensure that the recipient felt needed and was an important part of the organisation.

The beauty of corporate jewellery was and still is the perceived value related to the actual price paid.

Corporate jewellery and might I say corporate ties and corporate scarves are probably the most undervalued gift or handout that a company can give, the reason for this is that the cost normally doesn’t equate to the perceived value,

For example, when you give someone a branded pen, people are reasonably well enough educated to understand that the pen may have a value of R10.00 or R100.00 but frankly, when it comes to custom ties or custom scarves and corporate jewellery, people don’t really have a clue what the cost would be as the only place they see these items is in a retail environment at usually quite a high price.

I am not sure when corporate jewellery became popular but probably around the same time as corporate ties and corporate scarves as in those days, companies were always looking for something to compliment the gifts they gave out to their staff or clients.

We must keep in mind that back in those days there was always a lot more money to spend on these type of items than there is today and also, back then there was not a stigma attached to companies handing out or gifting things like corporate scarves or custom ties.

We must also not forget that the spin off of corporate jewellery has also benefitted the school uniform for example, the smart badge worn by certain students such as a prefects badge or head by, head girl etc would normally be made by a company who also creates and produces corporate jewellery, its on and the same really.

The dilemma was always with corporate jewellery when faced with the question gold plated or nickel plated and my advice was and still is to go with the metal finish that resonates best with your company.

So for example, if you are a company that makes stainless steel items, you would not go with gold plated cufflinks and vice versa, if you were a gold mine, you would not go with nickel or silver plated corporate jewellery.

There was and still very much is a huge positive response from both staff and clients when they are gifted with a piece of corporate jewellery or for that matter custom ties and custom scarves containing the company logo or colours.