It\u2019s a big weekend for jewelry brand Gorjana. Mothers and daughters are a major part of its audience, and with Mother\u2019s Day coming up Sunday, the company is in the midst of a marketing push.<\/p>\n
The campaign highlights Gorjana\u2019s recent move into athlete partnerships, with Portland Thorns FC forward Reilyn Turner and her family making an appearance. The brand\u2019s growing roster of athletes also boasts tennis, volleyball, and basketball players, including Los Angeles Sparks forward Cameron Brink and 2026 No. 4 overall draft pick Lauren Betts, who tip off their WNBA season over the weekend.<\/p>\n
The athletes are part of the Gorjana Sports Club, an initiative that formally kicked off last summer as a multichannel effort to build brand awareness, according to Director of Marketing Jennifer Darrow. After seeing sports content overperform for the brand, Darrow said she\u2019s responding by doubling down on women athletes, with the potential for broader sponsorships to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are partnering with athletes as our brand ambassadors,\u201d Darrow told Marketing Brew. \u201cWe don\u2019t do a lot in the media and entertainment space. We don\u2019t have a lot of celebrity or influencer partners\u2026these are the women who we want to be speaking on our behalf, and so we see that as a long-term relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drafting<\/h2>\n
The Gorjana marketing team didn\u2019t actively recruit its first athlete partner; she reached out to the brand. In 2023, pro tennis player Jessie Pegula, a finalist at the 2024 US Open, approached Gorjana and said she wears its jewelry when she plays, according to Darrow, who joined from Nike last year. Pegula became Gorjana\u2019s first athlete ambassador from there, and has since starred in ads and created social content with the brand. Women tennis players around the world are popular picks for brand endorsements.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a huge, eye-opening opportunity\u201d for the Gorjana team, Darrow said. The Gorjana Sports Club officially rolled out in August with a campaign headlined by Pegula and Brink.<\/p>\n
Inspired by their relationship with Pegula, Darrow said her team sought to build its athlete roster with other women who were already wearing Gorjana\u2014or at least with women for whom \u201cpersonal style and jewelry is very much a part of who they are.\u201d They also look for players \u201cwho are at the top of their game\u201d and who can serve as role models for younger athletes, she added.<\/p>\n
In addition to Pegula, Brink, Turner, and Betts, the jewelry brand\u2019s roster now includes Sienna Betts, Lauren\u2019s younger sister and a freshman forward for the 2026 NCAA Championship-winning UCLA women\u2019s basketball team; Brooke Nuneviller and Merritt Beason of the Omaha Supernovas in the Pro Volleyball Federation; and Kyra Zaengle, a beach volleyball player at USC.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe are really, really thoughtful about who we sign,\u201d Darrow said. \u201cWe\u2019re not an Adidas. We\u2019re not a Nike. We can\u2019t carry a roster of 70, so we have to be pretty selective and pretty intentional about where we\u2019re able to build into partnerships that we know we want to maintain in the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting active<\/h2>\n
Darrow and her team work with athletes across activations, including commercials, social content, and in-person events. All their contracts have social components, Darrow said, while IRL engagements are more tailored to each player: Pegula often does in-store meet and greats while she travels for tournaments, while Brink has attended \u201cbrand dinners\u201d with friends and sports leaders.<\/p>\n
The Gorjana Sports Club commercial is \u201cone of our top-performing pieces of content,\u201d Darrow told us, while sports-focused content across platforms tends to outperform non-sports-related posts. Those data points reinforced the idea that \u201cthis is something our consumers really are connecting to and really respond to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n