Jostens has officially launched 'The Champions Collective,' a new brand that will showcase the company’s unmatched expertise in celebrating champions and the craftsmanship behind every ring. With a history that spans more than 100 years, Jostens has defined what it means to symbolize victory, as seen in these ring ceremonies with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Jostens’ work is forever engraved in sports history, having created rings for: The very first Super Bowl, back-to-back championship moments and dynasties such as Michael Jordan's three-peat with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s and the Miami Heat championships with the Big Three. More recently, the company has created rings for the 2023 WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces, the 2024 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the 2024-25 Premier League Champion Liverpool FC and the 2024 and 2025 Stanley Cup Champions Florida Panthers
We chatted with Chris Poitras, GM/SVP of Jostens Professional Sports Division, to learn more about 'The Champions Collective,' and what's in the works for the future.
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SN: From a business perspective, what do championship rings represent in today's overall sports business and sports economy?
Poitras: These rings have become the symbol of legacy and status. It’s the one thing that owners and players can't buy. So, it bonds them together in a way that is really unique. It's a piece of meaningful history for both the player and the organization. And for Jostens and The Champions Collective to be a part of that is really meaningful for our legacy.
SN: How does The Champions Collective fit into Jostens' business strategy?
Poitras: We have over 70 years of history in this segment, and The Champions Collective allows us to carve out this business to be a standalone platform. It pays honor and homage to our history, but also gives us this platform to be able to do things that we've never done before, and we're really excited about it.
SN: Winning the bid to actually produce the championship ring is so competitive now more than ever. How will The Champions Collective help you stay ahead of industry rivals?
Poitras: The Champions Collective will help us stay ahead because it gives us the platform to tell our long history. This is a contained business within Jostens, including the people, the facility, the craftsmen and women that put these rings together - who don't do anything but work for The Champions Collective. And that's why we can do things that nobody else in this industry can do. The Champions Collective separates us from everything else that's in the industry.
SN: What type of fan and consumer engagement will take place under The Champions Collective?
Poitras: The Champions Collective will give us the platform for consumers to digest more and more content. The making of the ring, the behind the scenes, potentially a retail platform that will allow fans to buy a limited edition ring, or to buy some sort of fan memento. All of those things coming together give us this platform that we can control in partnership with the teams.
SN: How else can The Champions Collective be brought to life?
Poitras: The Champions Collective will help us develop relationships with collaborators. Collaborators of design, collaborators of manufacturing, collaborators of content, etc. And then it also allows us the ability to create standalone retail. Many people don't know, but we created one of the greatest championship rings ever done for the Chicago Cubs in 2016, they hadn't won a championship in 108 years. We actually built a physical store within Wrigley Field to help fans celebrate that monumental occasion.
SN: Was there a ring or a series of rings that gave you the inspiration to start The Champions Collective?
Poitras: The Champions Collective brand allows us this platform to move forward. When we think about innovation on rings, we've been at the forefront of that for the longest time, more than anybody else in this industry. If it was creating a watch? Our master jewelers created the championship rings for the Florida Marlins in 2004 that included a watch inside. Some want that innovation, some want the next thing, and then others want to pay tribute and honor the sport or the athlete in a unique way. The Champions Collective gives us the ability to make sure that, at the end of the day, the customer (the owner, the executive, the athlete) gets the championship ring that they want, and we have a platform to tell that story for many, many years to come.
SN: How will you leverage athletes more to shape the stories and experiences that fall under The Champions Collective?
Poitras: Yeah, that’s a great question, because the athlete is the person who wins it on the court, on the field, on the ice. So we want to make sure that the collaborative approach is brought to life. And that could be through collaboration with jewelers or with the athlete themselves. We want to make sure the innovation and the culture is right,. And all sports are different, too. I mean, we'll be delivering rings to the Florida Panthers, and then we’ll have the Liverpool ring, and then, a few weeks out, we’ll have the Oklahoma City Thunder ring. You have to be meaningful, to be able to weave through the different elements of people, and to be able to tell that story.
SN: How do you plan to connect more closely to the fashion, the entertainment, the art, the design world, etc?
Poitras: Sports has become a fashion runway, it’s about designing and making a ring that hits that culture. Whether it’s the first Super Bowl ring or the most recent Florida Panthers ring, the ring is an icon. Obviously, things have changed between then and now - but we're excited about creating this cultural movement 70 years ago, and continuing to be at the forefront as we go forward. Many have come and gone in this business, while Jostens has stayed the test of time.
SN: What new technologies exist today in a championship ring-making process that didn't exist 70 years ago?
Poitras: First and foremost, the infusion of technology, from a manufacturing and craftsmanship perspective. The fusion of those two together creates the most spectacular rings in the world. And our ability to do that hand-in-hand with the craftsperson, because at the end of the day – it’s every single one of those stones. If it's 100, 200, 800 - they all have to be set by hand by a human person, and we have to make sure that we have the best people in the world doing that. The ring has basically become this kind of fusion of art, innovation and craftsmanship together.
And it's a blank canvas. You know, the ring itself used to be the top, and the two shanks – and how do you tell the story within that? Now, the entire ring- top, bottom, inside, outside, underneath- has become this canvas to tell that story. It could be the season’s story, it could be the history of the team, it could be personalization elements, it could be an individual – for instance, winning MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, etc. It’s that balance of technology which has given us the ability to do things that have never been done before.
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