A Tribute to Harold Tivol

Sadly, as you probably know, a true legend in the jewelry industry and one of Bruce’s idols, Kansas City’s iconic Harold Tivol, has passed. So we at Freshley Media feel obligated to give digital tribute to the man solely responsible for impressing such a refined inspiration upon us here in Charleston, South Carolina, from eleven hundred miles away.

Those eleven hundred miles are a relatively short distance given the depth and breadth of the impact Harold Tivol had on the fine jewelry industry. The right combination of quality, integrity, ambition and marketing savvy built the Tivol brand to world wide status.  He made it all the way to 92 years of age with nothing less than a legacy in his wake. He was the jeweler’s jeweler, the benchmark upon whom all of us in jewelry retailing should measure ourselves.

At a time when everyone focused on selling their own generic inventory, Harold Tivol was one of the first jewelry store owners to incorporate high end branded jewelry collections other than his own into his store, recognizing that great brands were the key to building his own brand. He shared his passion for fine jewelry with everyone from the $500 customer to the $500,000 ones. His ability to accurately assess risks within the jewelry business, along with his progressive vision, turned the entire jewelry industry into what we see today.   

It was his marketing savvy however that really made Harold Tivol the icon he is. His marketing is nothing less than renowned in Kansas City, most memorably for his unforgettably charming television commercials that aired for the better part of two decades.  Harold would showcase himself smiling, dressed in a fine black tuxedo and, as the television frames flashed and upbeat music played, a variety of opulent accessories and sophisticated poses appeared and disappeared just as magically as it sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4ckFrrefFo

Harold accumulated multiple awards for his accomplishments:  he was the first stand-alone store owner to be added to the National Jeweler Hall of Fame, Modern Jeweler gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was dubbed Top Retail Jeweler of the Year from the American Gem Society to name just a few.

As an agency that caters exclusively to the fine jewelry industry, we here at Freshley Media pay considerable and consistent homage to the example Harold Tivol set in the form of marketing best practices and downright admiration.  The gentleman’s gentleman, the classiest of classy, he exuded superlatives in nearly all that he did, and will therefore be missed enormously.  Thank you, Harold Tivol, for an amazing life. R.I.P.