New Company Taking Over Publication of JCK

New York--Come Jan. 1, a new company will be in charge of 147-year-old trade magazine JCK and its website, JCKOnline.com.

The Reed Jewelry Group, which operates the JCK jewelry shows, owns JCK magazine and JCKOnline.com but outsources the operation, publication and design of both to a company called Manifest.

Beginning Jan. 1, Headline Studio will take over JCK magazine and its website from Manifest.

Headline Studio is the in-house content marketing agency for Advance Local.

Advance Local is a division of Advance Publications, which also owns Condé Nast (Vogue, Vanity Fair, etc.) and American City Business Journals, which publishes weekly business newspapers nationwide.

On Jan. 3, the JCK editorial team, which still will be headed by Editor-in-Chief Victoria Gomelsky, will relocate from their current offices on 45th Street in Manhattan to One World Trade Center, where Advance Local and Condé Nast are headquartered.

Commenting on the move to Headline Studio, Gomelsky said, “Over its 147-year history, JCK has evolved from a trade publication to the leading resource for the jewelry community, covering the news and consumer-led style trends that shape our business, and connecting designers and retailers through our best-in-class print, digital and event touchpoints. As the leading voice for the jewelry community, it is our mission to continuously improve the content and products we create for our readers. This exciting new partnership with Headline Studio reinforces our commitment to delivering on that promise.”

Mark Smelzer will remain publisher of both JCK magazine and JCKOnline.com.

Prior to the move from Manifest to Headline Studio, Smelzer said Reed took about six months to figure out how to “right-size” JCK to “allow it to carry forward in a 2017 media environment.”

Let go as a result of this six-month re-examination of the business were Associate Publisher Donna Borrelli, regional sales manager Bobbie Hamburg, and Senior Editor Jennifer Heebner.

After joining Headline Studio, JCK magazine, the newsletter and website, which last debuted a new look in late 2015, will undergo a redesign headed by Peter Yates, a New York-based creative director who has worked at Condé Nast as well as Hearst Magazines.

Smelzer said the redesigns are set to be completed by March.