Diamond World (DW) May - June 2020

Personality
Why was the decision to rebrand
Diamond Producers Association
implemented now?
The world was changing even before
Coronavirus, fairly dramatically. I started
my role back in December 2019. We were
already two or three months into this strategy
and positioning before Coronavirus. But
obviously, the impact of Coronavirus has
both accentuated and accelerated in terms
of what we were doing. So why did we want
to do it? A number of reasons. First of all,
we wanted to speak to a younger audience in
the major markets in the world, particularly
in the U.S.
The average age of the diamond jewellery
shopper is in the mid forties, and there’s
a generation of potential consumers that
has grown up without having the major
advertising campaigns presented to them.
Secondly, the tone and the values with which
the audience engages has also changed and
subjects like sustainability are very strong
in the in the minds of these consumers.
And finally, this is the Digital Age and in
all honesty, it has been slow to evolve into
the digital revolution. And we really see the
opportunity with this consumer, whether
it be through websites, or social media
platforms, to develop in the digital world.
For many years now the DPA has
built on the ideas ‘Real and Rare’. As
part of the new strategy the tagline
Real is Rare has been dropped. Does
this mean both these words are not
relevant anymore?
No, I think the real and rare are still very
relevant. But we also want to talk about all
of the other properties that make diamonds
individual. Being real is one of them. There
are many other facets of a diamond that
make it unique when you compare it with
other products that consumers spend their
hard earned income on. So for us, it was
about keeping it real and individual, and
also expanding that to give us a platform
to be able to talk about all the other unique
aspects of a diamond.
The rebranding strategy also involves
a lot of marketing through content.
How do you see this as an effective
tool to communicate with your target
audience?
We are catering to an audience which is
digesting content every hour, every day of
the year. And traditionally, many brands
worked with campaigns which were seen
at a specific time of the year and then went
quiet through the rest of the year. But the
shopper is looking at our industry every day
of the year, and we have to be present every
day of the year and that we also have such
The average age
of the diamond
jewellery
shopper is in the
mid forties, and
there’s
a generation
of potential
consumers that
has grown up
without having
the major
advertising
campaigns
presented to
them
amazing content. I came into this industry
from outside. I was in fashion before. I
thought it was incredible, the amazing
amount of stories, whether they are about the
industry and supply chain - where diamonds
originate from, the stories of epic diamonds,
etc. There are just so many great stories. I
was a bit frustrated to see that there are all
these great stories, but we don’t have the
platforms to be able to talk to the consumer
about them. So, that’s why content was part
of our strategic planning setup so early. We
had to create these platforms that allowed us
to talk about all of the great things that are
done in our industry and to do that in a way
that really inspires consumers and educates
them. It has been a very interesting process
we’ve gone through to get here.
DiamonD WorlD | may-june 2020 | 79