The Ukrainian jewelry brand SOVA was one of the first in its segment to start doing collaborations, and despite the fact that the commercial result was not always immediate, they still continued to move in this direction.
SOVA is a Ukrainian brand with a history of 24 years, has its own art team, which develops product design and production in Kyiv. Currently, the chain operates 44 stores in 18 regions of the country. SOVA Marketing Director Kristina Bashliy, during the VII International specialized exhibition of the retail and commercial real estate industry RAU EXPO 2024, spoke about how the Ukrainian jewelry market began to change and about cases of collaborations with designers and media personalities. Now we already have experience of launching 15 collaborations. RAU selected the main one from the ledge.
Why collaborations are needed
At first the jewelry market looked like this:
That is, these are classic jewelry that people celebrate birthdays in and almost never take off in everyday life. However, there is a difficulty for business here – the frequency of purchases is once every 10 years. Therefore, the SOVA brand developed the concept of a jewelry wardrobe.
We began to perceive jewelry not as a relic, but as a familiar addition to different looks, jewelry that should be chosen for the occasion, season, etc.
Collaborations are necessary to reach a new audience, expand the range for loyal customers, create a unique product and news feed. For us, this term is very special, because each collaboration is developed for at least six months: starting with negotiations, sketch development, 3D modeling and promotion.
The SOVA brand was one of the first to work with a collection approach to creating jewelry and introduce collaborations.
About collaboration cases
The year of change for the brand is 2014. An increased wave and interest in everything Ukrainian began. And then we released the first collection with the Ukrainian brand of elegant women's clothing Lake Studio.
The collection was atypical; it featured café earrings and climbers for the first time. It was very successful and our top seller appeared, which is still presented in stores – this is an earring that resembles a sewing needle. Until this time, no one could imagine that jewelry could look like this.
The next collaboration was in 2018 with the Ukrainian shoe brand Marsala. However, this collection lasted only a year. She was interesting and talked about kindred spirits. However, not all clients could read this intent. Therefore, at one time this collaboration turned out to be too difficult.
The next collaboration in the same year was with Ukrainian clothing designer Ivan Frolov , owner of the Frolov brand. Then we collaborated with the BO “100% Life”, and we needed a social component for the collection. This charitable foundation invited us to start collaborating with Ivan, who actively conquered Ukraine and the world and worked on social projects.
The collection was androgenic and dedicated to an atypical cause – the fight against HIV/AIDS. For us, every collaboration is an opportunity to explore the world. Then we realized that you can live happily with HIV and give birth to healthy children if you follow the therapy.
Another collaboration with Ivan was in 2020. Unlike the previous one, it was more feminine, classic and romantic.
The next collaboration with Frolov, the first since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, was in 2022. We collected money for turnstiles for the Hospitalier Foundation.
Another collaboration in the great war with Frolov has just been released. It also has a social component – we transfer money to the Children of Heroes Foundation, which cares for children who have lost one or two parents or suffered as a result of Russian aggression. This collaboration is in a completely different mood – tender and bright.
Now we have four collaborations with Frolov and each time the results are better. Therefore, I advise you not to stop after one experience, but to try again and again. Because this engine needs to be revved up.
Let's go back to 2018. The SOVA brand is launching a collaboration with designer Liliya Litkovskaya. This became a motivating challenge for us.
Then we explored a new material – malachite stones. By that time it was not yet so popular and was difficult to find. We took risks and upgraded our technologies. However, we took a risk and did not regret it – the collection is still sold in our stores. And popularity came only in the second year after its launch.
However, we have collaborations not only with designers, but also with media personalities. In 2021, a collaboration with the group The Hardkiss took place. What’s interesting is that soloist Yulia Sanina not only became the face of the collaboration, she actively participated in its creation.
One of the goals of any collaboration is to attract a new audience. With this case it was the other way around: 78% of the audience were our loyal clients and 23% were new ones.
Another collaboration of ours was with the cartoon Mavka. We started the project before the war, and returned to it during the war. The decision to continue was not easy because we did not know how the audience would accept it. However, they took a risk again. Then the words from the cartoon became our slogan: “Light brings darkness down.”
Online traffic increased by 66% on launch day. Brand requests – by 10%.
