Women love diamonds and that is why ‘Diamonds Are Forever’. And, now is the time to re-instill the faith in diamonds. Diamonds are precious and so are the women in your life. New intriguing Campaign by GJEPC and De Beers is all set to tell you this with their Campaign for the next 3 months. Let us find out more about the Campaign.

Need for the Campaign

Owing the global economic turbulence, diamond industry has suffered a lot. If this was not enough, there is growing lack of interest in diamonds, especially the ‘Millennials’. In order to revitalize the demand for diamonds and consumer sentiments, there was certainly need to bring back the excitement in diamonds.

Talking about the need for the Campaign, Praveenshankar Pandya said “After lapse of 12 years the promotion is happening for the industry. The Council has been deliberating with the diamond producers to begin the generic diamond promotion Campaign. We claim to be the leaders in diamond manufacturing in the world and it is our duty to promote this Campaign worldwide. With the launch of this Campaign, we hope to help in enhancing the demand for diamond jewellery and help retailers clearing the existing stock pile.”

Stephen Lussier, Executive Vice President, Marketing, De Beers Group; Chief Executive Officer, Forevermark, said “De Beers is working closely with the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council to develop a category-based marketing Campaign over the key selling season in India. 

India continues to be one of the top performing markets where diamond consumption is concerned. It is thus imperative to protect and grow diamond equity and this will require a sharp focus on consumer confidence and consumer demand. With this Campaign we aim to retain and mature the preference and purchase of diamonds in this market."

The Campaign

GJEPC has joined hands with De Beers for the India Campaign wherein De Beers will offer concept and branding strategy for the generic promotion and the GJEPC will be roping in the retailers for the programme and do everything it can to make the Campaign successful. This Campaign is basically about making an impact and therefore their targeted audiences are the married couples between the age group of 25 to 35.

For the phase I of the Campaign, the budget would be around of Rs. 50 crore for India while for the American market, the budget is around of Rs. 350 crore

The Campaign has begun on 10th October 2016 in India and will continue for the next three months. Tagline for the Campaign is “Ek Heera Aapke Heere Ke Liye” (Because only a diamond is worthy of your diamond). The Campaign will talk about the woman in various roles that of a wife, mother, daughter-in-law and how she brings happiness in each one’s life. It is about husband’s perspective and how he appreciates the efforts of the woman in his life by gifting diamond jewellery.

So what does “Ek Heera aapke….” actually trying to imply here? It talks about the woman whose presence by your side keeps you moving forward. The inner strength in all your actions. It is her essence of womanhood and motherhood that makes you an even better man. She showers the family with her infectious happiness. She’s not just your wife, she’s a best friend, a lover. She is the light of your life. And without her life would be incomplete.

Talking further on the Campaign, Shailesh Sanghani, Convener, Promotion, Marketing & Business Development Sub-Committee of the GJEPC said “The ‘Ek Hira, Tumhare....’ encourages the husband to show his appreciation of all the many little things that his partner does to make life happier for the family by gifting her diamonds.”

Promotion

The Campaign, which is being developed by De Beers, shall mainly comprise of ATL activities such as TV & print advertising and BTL activities like POS material for the retail outlets with a dedicated call centre to guide consumers for more details on products and its availability in the listed stores/retailers.

To begin with, the Campaign would run for 3 months across TV, Print and Digital in Hindi, English and the major regional languages. Promotions will be at its peak during the forthcoming festive season such as Dusshera, Dhanteras, Diwali, Karwa Chauth and Christmas. A special website has been created for the Campaign where customers would find the retailers’ name, address and contact numbers. Co-branded activities have also been planned to get maximum mileage to the Campaign

The Product

No new product is being developed for this Campaign while it would focus on small diamonds in order to keep diamonds accessible to all. As the one of the main idea of the Campaign is to help retailers clear their inventory, hence the entire thrust on small diamonds. As per the comprehensive research undertaken by De Beers, there is significant amount of Diamond Jewellery in ‘Cluster Settings’ available with retailers. Hence, the current Campaign will push diamond jewellery of this particular setting.Visually, the Campaign will promote diamond jewellery designs around the traditional flower and cluster concepts, starting from very simple basic designs priced at an affordable Rs. 25,000.

Retailer’s Connect

The Council is urging the diamond jewellery retailers to register for the program so that maximum number of retailers can avail the benefits of the Campaign. Under the program, the retailers can register for fee of Rs. 5000/-, per store. Once registered, the store details will be listed on the official website for the Campaign. There will be a toll free number, which would be given at the end of print and TV ads. Based on the location from which he/she is calling, they will receive names of all participating jewellers in the vicinity. Sanghani said “Many of the bigger pan-India chains have already agreed to join hands with the GJEPC-De Beers campaign even before the road shows have officially commenced,” and added that he was hopeful that nearly 1,000 retailers from across the country would extend their support to this effort.

So far, 1064 stores have enrolled from across India as a result of the Campaign.

Retailers Speak

Diamond is the most sought after and luxurious ornament that the world has ever known. Sales of diamonds have been good in the past, but the potential of increasing them further in the Indian markets remains high with the savings and buying ability of young couples observing a growth. This initiative will act on two fronts, reminding people who have forgotten diamonds to be exquisite ornaments and persuading others who just had plans to purchase them in the future. - Pritesh Goyal, Director and Designer, SLG Jewellers.

Diamonds have been popular after gold in the Indian markets and have held a prestigious status since years in the Indian market. However, one can’t deny that the sentiment for the rock has been over all dull recently and the GJEPC campaign is a great attempt to revive the consumer sentiment. Diamonds, however still is the preferred stone when it comes to engagement rings whatever size the rock is of. The campaign attempts to touch emotions of a married Indian woman and brings diamonds back in her life as a symbol of revived love and passion. - Ishu Datwani, Founder, Anmol

Indian Customers have always been partial towards gold jewellery. To add to the woes, lab-grown diamonds and synthetics have made customers more conscious and weary from buying diamond jewellery. The initiative taken by DeBeers and GJEPC will reinforce consumer confidence in diamond jewellery. The campaign is an assurance that real diamonds are rare and remain forever. The campaign is aimed at boosting diamond sales both at retail levels and at the manufacturing level wherein artificial diamonds are stiff competition. Sanjay Jagwani, Notandas Jewellers

Living in a 21st century, consumers still aren’t aware of Natural Diamonds’ relevance. There have been a lot of changes over the last few years on both the supply and the demand part. With this Generic Diamond Promotion Campaign by GJEPC and De Beers, demand for Natural Diamonds will surely gain relevance in the market. Diamonds are precious and one of the most beautiful creations. We always strive to stay close to our consumer as a trusted partner for natural diamonds. In this market scenario, the perfect campaign has to be launched in order to retain the consumers’ preference for natural diamonds. I believe GJEPC and De Beers have set a good platform for retailers to broadcast awareness about diamonds to the end consumer. Through this promotional campaign, it will help in enlivening the demand for natural diamond jewellery. - Siddharthaa Sawansukha, MD, Sawansukha Jewellers Pvt Ltd

It is an extremely important initiative. The presence of generic programmes which were earlier run by De Beers had a huge impact on the growth of the diamond business. A decade later, the absence of generic advertisements and decreasing spends by jewellers on the aspirational aspect of the diamond has been negative. Congratulations to GJEPC and De Beers for coming together and reviving this initiative at a time when it was most needed. I believe that this will have a long term impact on our industry. - Vijay Jain (CEO and Director – ORRA)