It is unclear if the incumbent agency, RPM3, will repitch for the business. The account has lain dormant for some time.
Signet Group, the parent company of the H Samuel, Leslie Davis and Ernest Jones jewellery chains, will put £1 million behind an initial television ad burst, and will increase the spend significantly if the ads work.
In January, the company promoted Nick Hamley, the marketing manager for H Samuel, to be its first group marketing director with responsibility for all three retail brands. He refused to comment on the agency search.
The group was formerly known as Ratners, but was renamed in 1993 after the huge losses sustained when the then chairman, Gerald Ratner, said some of its products were "crap" that sold for less than a prawn sandwich.
Signet, which has 1,000 stores in the US, has announced that it would raise its marketing budget to take advantage of the lowest advertising rates for years. At the time the group said that it would spend £69 million on advertising in the US and £7 million in the UK.
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