Benchpeg turns 15 in Lockdown

It is very hard to believe, for us, that we turned 15 at the beginning of this month.

15 years ago, when ecommerce was very limited, websites were non-responsive and social media hadn’t really got started in the way that we know it nowadays, we created Benchpeg to help democratise information for the sector and get it to those that needed the information most – micro and SME businesses within the jewellery industry.

We’re extremely proud that we were the first digital newsletter in the jewellery industry, and the only one which was free to access at the time. With a few people on a subscription list at the beginning, we now have over 10k weekly subscribers and millions of visits to our website each year.

Years ago, we bought a domain name, (by going through Oppi Untracht’s Jewelery – Concepts and Technology, a tome, from Z – A), registering a limited company and trademarking the name before the launch of our first newsletter. This was to protect ourselves. But we had no idea what we were doing or where it would take us.

We received some negative feedback after launch, including someone quite well known at the time saying what we were doing was “neither wanted, required or desired”. Knowing that this was untrue, and being quite belligerent by nature, when told not to do something, we’ve always done exactly the opposite. I guess in today’s terms what we did back in the early noughties would now be described as ‘disruptive’. Or is it just plain stubborness?!

However, overwhelmingly, we have always been supported by the industry. And we’ve appreciated every positive word we’ve ever received in feedback.

We have been able to positively impact on lives and businesses, we know this because of the initiatives we’ve delivered, the advice we’ve given, the partners we’ve worked with and the conversations we’ve had.

It has been an honour and a privilege to work in such an industry.

It has been a long slog. At first, for a good many years Benchpeg was supported through personal income and supplemented with our wages. As we grew bigger and our notability spread, so did the expectation of ‘professionalism’ and ‘professionalism of delivery’ which of course had a cost implication. This is when our philanthropic ideal properly became ‘commercial’ and we had to start charging (although we are committed to being as competitive as possible so that we are able to cover our overheads). I guess we all know that ‘business’ is not a dirty word. Every business needs to be able to wash its face.

Over the years, its been great to see that what we’ve done and achieved has been emanated by many in industry. Did Oscar Wilde not say that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”? so it is now lovely to see that throughout our journey that we have confirmation that what we have been doing is right.

Additionally to the ongoing commitment to Benchpeg and our ancillary activities over the years, we’ve also been embedded in the industry through work with the Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council (now retired). Rebecca is a Trustee of the Bishopsland Educational Trust, and sits on the Goldsmiths’ Company’s Communications and Marketing Committee, and their Steering Group for the Goldsmiths Fair. She is also a Liverman of the Company. In the past year, she has also been elected a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, elected a Fellow of the Institute of Data and Marketing and was invited to become a Fellow of the The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) whilst also employed elsewhere (the day job) in the IT and Education sectors.  She is a graduate of the School of Jewellery in Birmingham and voraciously maintains a creative bent.

Benchpeg is only able to thrive because of its following, readership and interaction with industry. We're an agile business and are elastic, expanding and contracting when needed, which is how we have lasted this long. We regard Benchpeg as a direct result of the zeitgeist within the industry over the last decade or so – a movement of change and development for the better. An indication of this would be our hashtag #benchpegselfie which has had 9, 500k tags. And we absolutely love seeing them come in.

As a special treat for our birthday we have selected our animal favs!

So, after all of the above, we’d like to say a huge ‘Thank You’.

Thank you for reading, thank you for supporting us, thank you for being there.

~ Benchpeg