Mumbai: The first ever generic diamond promotion campaign in over a decade launched by the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) in 2016, and the organisation’s plans to drive demand for diamonds especially among the millennial consumers, occupied centre stage at the session on Marketing during Day 2 of the GJEPC’s Mines to Market conference in Mumbai.
The audience welcomed the announcement by DPA CEO Jean-Marc Liberherr that the organisation had commenced preparations for the India-centric generic promotions that would be launched in September this year, and that the research and field work which was being carried out by Ipsos had just begun. Lieberherr added that DPA had selected Bartle, Bogart and Hegarthy (BBH) as the creative agency for the India campaign, and the creatives would be unveiled at the IIJS this year.
These announcements were part of a detailed presentation covering the DPA’s approach and activities of last year and broad plans for 2017 and 2018 put forward by him. Giving a brief background on the characteristics of the millennials, Liberherr said that the DPA had crafted its messaging based on the understanding that they spend a lot of time in the virtual world of digital space, but also yearn for real things and real relationships.
Stressing that the DPA was promoting the natural diamond category as a brand, Liberherr pointed out that it had been established over many decades and needed to be protected and nurtured as being Real (“a miracle of Nature’) and Rare (which is why they were ‘inherently precious’). Due to these characteristics, they had become an inimitable symbol of love, while also helping producer countries to become better places for their citizens.
Liberherr added that synthetics, being ‘industrial reproductions’ are ‘not diamonds’, just as a copy of a Picasso painting can never have the value and appeal of the original. He said that synthetic producers do not have a legitimate claim to the natural diamond heritage which they are trying to hijack, even as they are trying to damage the diamond name.
According to him, the DPA campaign in the US had achieved a lot, even with a limited investment. Consumer research post the campaign indicated that there was a high 84% tagline recall among those who had been exposed to it, while 33% of this segment was interested in buying, as against a 17% level among non-exposed consumers. The campaign had achieved massive media impressions, and this year it was the only category advertising screened at the prestigious Oscar ceremony.
Lieberherr concluded by saying that ‘Real is Rare’ is not a DPA platform but one for the entire industry and it was hoped that trade associations, individual companies and brands too would contribute to spreading this message.
He confirmed that the DPA Board had approved an expanded budget for the 2017 promotions and that a campaign in the Chinese market would also be launched in 2018.
