Sujaja Martis is the Director Consumer Marketing, Platinum Guild International (India). She is a Dynamic Business Leader & Passionate Brand Growth Architect. Here, in an exclusive Interview with gems2jewellery.com, she shares her thoughts about the platinum growth, its strategy and future in India. Below are the excerpts:
Can you tell us about your journey and how you became the Director of Consumer Marketing at Platinum Guild India?
S. M.: Having navigated the complex landscapes of global giants and prominent Indian firms, my journey began in advertising and has been a dynamic blend of passion and varied experiences. From managing portfolios for Unilever, Marico, Godrej to working with innovative Indian entrepreneur led organizations, I’ve always been driven by a deep love for brands. My journey has spanned categories, including personal care, food, retail, media, e-commerce, and insurance, to name a few, each adding a unique layer to my experience. My passion lies in understanding consumer insights, data mining, and crafting memorable consumer journeys
In my current role as Director of Consumer Marketing at Platinum Guild India, the thrill lies in expanding a relatively new category i.e. platinum jewelry. It’s an exciting task to recruit the younger audience into our category fold. The combination of factors such shorter attention spans, hyper fragmentation of media preferences, diverse content consumption habits, and deeply ingrained behaviours prevalent in the category presents a compelling challenge.To be able to create differentiated offerings that invite consumers to reevaluate their choices, and find what is relevant to their current motivations and value system is deeply fulfilling. This role allows me to combine my love for innovative marketing with the strategic development of new segments, making it an incredibly rewarding experience.
What are the main responsibilities and challenges of your current role?
S. M.: Platinum Guild International (PGI) is a marketing organization which was created with the vision to develop the global platinum jewellery market as a new demand source for platinum. The primary task hence is to build demand for platinum within the precious jewellery category. I lead the consumer marketing efforts across three key segments: Platinum Love Bands, Platinum Evara (women’s jewellery), and Men of Platinum. Our focus is on continuously creating consumer value, differentiation, and meaning for platinum through targeted programs, both direct-to-consumer and in collaboration with our retail partners.
In our developing market, increasing familiarity and awareness of platinum’s unique qualities is an ongoing endeavour. Driving consideration and relevance for platinum is a comprehensive effort that spans the entire marketing funnel. This includes using emotional storytelling, as platinum is often associated with love and significant moments, as well as highlighting the metal’s key attributes that resonate with modern consumers. We tap into motivations ranging from social distinction to personal expression, creating a compelling narrative around platinum that appeals to contemporary sensibilities.
Additionally, a critical part of the role is creating value for our retail partners. This involves helping develop new market segments, creating new purchase occasions, and enabling partners to leverage the strength of our brands as may be applicable. The emphasis is on developing brand growth strategies geared towards engaging younger consumer cohorts, ensuring sustainable growth.
How does Platinum Guild India contribute to the promotion and growth of the platinum market in India?
S. M.: As mentioned PGI’s key role is to develop the platinum jewellery market as a new demand source for platinum. Since then, jewellery development has demonstrated a strong track record in delivering results through a multifaceted approach that includes marketing, education, partnership building, and innovation. Key aspects include:
Connecting with a younger audience: The focus for us has always been on younger consumers who seek differentiation. To them platinum is a vessel of emotion and marks emotionally significant moments. Each brand taps into a value system that this audience cohort identifies with. From a business perspective, this younger consumer is marks the future and if leveraged right offers sustainable long term growth.
Segments of opportunities: The introduction of specific branded segments such as Platinum Evara, Men of Platinum, and Platinum Love Bands caters to diverse consumer need states across ages and stages. We leverage market research to understand changing consumer preferences, trends, and potential areas for growth. This data-driven approach helps in tailoring marketing strategies and product offerings to meet the evolving needs of the market
Building familiarity and relevance: PGI creates content formats and drives initiatives that highlight the unique qualities of platinum, designed to inform consumers about why platinum is a valuable and meaningful choice for jewellery. By tapping into various need states from marking milestones, to expressing emotions and individuality, PGI helps build a narrative that connects with our consumer, making platinum a relevant option to mark personal events and emotional milestones.
Partnerships with Retailers: We also collaborate with retail partners to help identify the right merchandise mix, expand the availability of platinum jewellery via their footprint across India, deploy training programs for staff. Geographic expansion makes platinum more accessible to a broader audience. Training helps in effectively communicating the value of platinum to potential buyers and enhances the overall customer experience. Additionally we look at turning the typical retail store layout into an opportunity, enabling retailers to voluntarily increase customer`s’ exposure to platinum and focus on the benefits of platinum. For instance, making platinum more visible in the gold section with innovations like creating platinum jewellery designs with rose gold accents is a critical conversion engine on ground.
By addressing various aspects of the consumer journey and retail ecosystem, PGI effectively enhances the relevance, visibility, desirability, and accessibility of platinum jewellery in India.
Can you share some of the key initiatives and campaigns launched by Platinum Guild India recently?
S. M.: Our recent campaigns have effectively resonated with diverse consumer segments through a strategic integration of sports, emotional storytelling, and innovative marketing. A few notable examples across the portfolio include:
Men of Platinum: For our men’s jewellery brand, we have effectively leveraged the widespread appeal of cricket, a sport that is akin to a religion in our country. Cricket resonates deeply with our audience, and we use it to forge a strong connection between the game, its iconic players, and our brand narrative. Men of Platinum is a narrative of success based on values and character and that is what cricket is based on as well. K L Rahul and Surya Kumar Yadav have been extremely successful brand faces for us. In 2024, we capitalized on major cricket events like the IPL and T20 World Cup to roll out innovative content marketing campaigns.
A standout initiative was the mini-series “A Minute with Men of Platinum” hosted on Disney+ Hotstar, featuring Surya Kumar Yadav. This series highlighted the cricketing icon’s untold stories while showcasing the timeless elegance of platinum. Additionally, our partnership with ESPNcricinfo led to the creation of ‘Direct Hit’ a content series during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and IPL 2024. This series not only identified the ‘Man of Platinum’ for select matches but also created unique engagement opportunities, strengthening our connection with viewers and fans
Platinum EVARA advanced its “Very Rare, Very You” journey with the “Becoming Me” campaign, featuring cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues and singer Nithyashree Venkataramanan. This campaign celebrated the paths of today’s young women, emphasizing themes of self-belief, self-worth, and self-love while highlighting their stories of personal growth. Through a mini-series, we offered an intimate look into the lives of Jemimah and Nithyashree, showcasing their milestones marked with Platinum EVARA. Recognizing the growing excitement and fandom for women’s cricket, we aimed to expand our presence further.
In line with this strategy, we identified the Women’s Premier League (WPL) as a key opportunity to connect with our target audience for Platinum EVARA. In March 2024, we spotlighted Jemimah Rodrigues’ journey during the WPL with the “#IGotThis” campaign. This initiative included a series of six dynamic social content pieces, where Jemimah shared the challenges, she faced as a woman in the sport and how she overcame them, while the brands handle converted into her biggest cheerleader garnering audience support for her, throughout the tournament.
Platinum Love Bands on the other hand focused on the dreams, aspirations that young women have today. Platinum Love Bands, finds its natural fit in marking milestones in a couple’s relationship journey. Our last campaign raised the bar on this path, while at the same time focusing on a product showcase that is unique. Love stories were told by our love bands as well, garnering much traction and visibility with their disruptive approach. In addition are integrations with platforms like JioSaavn creating a Platinum Love Jukebox for Valentines Day or disruptive anamorphic outdoors that made the bands larger than life in this key season of relevance for the brand
What consumer behaviors have you observed in the Indian market regarding platinum jewellery?
S. M.: In the Indian market, we’ve observed that younger consumers are increasingly drawn to platinum jewellery because it aligns perfectly with their value systems and aspirations. This demographic is not just looking for jewellery; they are seeking pieces that resonate with their sense of identity and social distinction. Platinum, with its contemporary and unique appeal, fits seamlessly into this desire for self-expression and individuality.
Over the past decade, we have strategically invested in building and reinforcing the key values that differentiate platinum in a cluttered market. Today, platinum and its brands are recognized for embodying a distinct set of values and imagery in the minds of consumers. Our marketing efforts are in sync with the top reasons why consumers choose platinum: to celebrate significant life events, appreciate its sophisticated design language, and give it as a meaningful gift of love.
Moreover, the intrinsic qualities of platinum—its rarity, preciousness, and premium nature—play a crucial role in its appeal. Platinum is perceived as a high-quality, unique metal that stands out in the jewellery market. It is an aspirational choice that evokes a sense of pride in ownership. For many, platinum serves as an emotionally compelling symbol of love and a marker of life’s most significant moments, making it the metal of choice for those who value both meaning and distinction in their jewellery
How do you leverage digital marketing and social media to promote platinum jewellery?
S. M.: Given the demographic slant of our audience, digital for us becomes critical. We leverage the entire ecosystem to enhance discoverability, conversion, engagement and of course traffic to the last mile. Towards this end, a vibrant mix of content that spans CTV, video, social media, display, native, and even collaborations with publisher platforms are deployed. Conversational commerce has become critical and there are initiatives built in to explore that as well.
Consumer journeys are now seamless between the online & offline world, hence from a messaging point of view we cover a spectrum right from key attributes of the metal to the emotions relevant for our narratives, romancing design and conveying the meaning in it as well. We strategically deploy influencer marketing to build a positive “circle of influence” around platinum. Data-driven targeting, combined with curated content across various platforms, drives consideration and triggers purchase.
Can you tell us about some successful collaborations or partnerships that have helped in promoting platinum jewellery?
S. M.: At PGI, our marketing strategy places the consumer at the core. Thus, key behaviour patterns, culturally relevant truths, high affinity platforms and publishers, figures of influence all play a role. A mix of this is used to highlight key facets of our offering at crucial points of relevance. There have been various collaborations both in the past and present that build success for us.
For instance, sports and particularly cricket immediately resonates with our consumers for Men of Platinum. Thus, prompting us to delve further into the game and the players to seek collaborations that don’t simply align with our business objectives but also enhance the values that drive the brand narrative. Our campaigns featuring both KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav, have been successful in building a strong brand affinity within our segment, again hosting the series that we created on Disney Hotstar and deploying it with a mix of other assets and platforms during key cricket tournaments has worked. We continued to ride the cricket wave with Platinum Evara and our recent collaboration with cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues for the campaigns – ‘Becoming Me’ and ‘I Got This’, helped further cement the brand’s resonance within the younger demographic while bringing alive what young women see as femininity today. The partnership with Nityashree Venkataramanan, for the aforementioned campaigns widened the brand’s base beyond cricket, while strengthening the brand’s base in its core South markets. Similarly for our brand Platinum Love Bands we have had winning collaborations with Grazia and with Wedding Sutra, given the nature of the offering, the brand narrative they proved to be winning formulas
How important are industry partnerships for the growth of Platinum Guild India?
S. M.: Industry partnerships are absolutely vital to the growth and success of Platinum Guild India (PGI). Retailers and manufacturers are our key allies in this journey, and we’ve built a strong network of partners who collaborate with us on a range of initiatives, from design creation to a signature event like the Platinum Buyer Seller meet, to promotions and training programs to retail activations like “Platinum Season of Love.” These initiatives bring platinum to the table for our consumer today. Retail driven initiatives not only incentivize and empower our retail partners but also recognize and reward high performers, fostering a culture of excellence.
PGI is deeply committed to investing in tailored training programs for retail partners as well, ensuring they are well-equipped to highlight platinum’s unique selling points. For retailers, this training enables them to effectively communicate the value of platinum to customers, driving sales and enhancing the overall customer experience. Additionally, we offer collaborative marketing support, including point-of-sale materials and digital assets, to create compelling in-store and online experiences that showcase the allure of platinum jewellery. We also work closely with manufacturers to develop innovative designs and product lines that align with current market trends, ensuring that platinum remains a desirable choice in the crowded jewellery market.
How do you envision the future of the platinum jewellery market in India?
S. M.: The future of platinum jewellery in India is incredibly promising, fuelled by evolving consumer behaviours and a growing demand for products that carry deep emotional significance and project their identity. As India’s economy continues strong, with a rising middle class and a significant youth population, platinum is set to become the metal of choice for marking life’s most meaningful moments.
We’re seeing a clear shift towards more frequent, personal celebrations, which creates new opportunities for platinum consumption. Younger consumers, with their increasing disposable incomes and heightened brand consciousness, are drawn to products that are premium, contemporary, and meaningful—qualities that platinum naturally embodies. This demographic places great value on self-expression, individuality, and authenticity, viewing platinum not just as a precious metal, but as a symbol of these ideals.
Moreover, the expansion of retail networks into tier 2 and 3 cities is unlocking new consumer segments, allowing platinum to reach beyond the major urban centres. As the market continues to mature, PGI remains focused on nurturing and growing our retail partnerships to expand our presence and deepen our penetration across India, ensuring that platinum is available and appealing to a broader audience.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of your career at Platinum Guild India?
S. M.: The most rewarding aspect of my career at Platinum Guild India has been the opportunity to shape and witness the evolution of platinum into a cherished symbol of love, personal milestones, and self-expression. PGI has provided me with an incredible platform for growth, and I’ve been fortunate to have Vaishali as a mentor who has truly nurtured my development.
It’s been deeply fulfilling to contribute to building a narrative that resonates with consumers, especially in a market where traditional views on precious jewellery are so ingrained. Starting with minimal recognition, it’s satisfying to see consumers now embrace platinum for its unique qualities. One of the highlights of my journey has been the creation of the Men of Platinum segment, which tapped into an unmet need and has since then grown successfully.
Seeing platinum take on significant emotional value in people’s lives—appreciated for its design, premium imagery, and personal meaning—has been particularly gratifying. This journey has been marked by the strong brand equity we’ve established, with awareness and consideration scores now surpassing 90%. Overcoming challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, working with dedicated partners and a talented team, and seeing the real impact of our work has made this experience both exciting and deeply satisfying.
Interview by Suresh Chotai
