India to launch Generic Diamond Marketing Campaign

(IDEX Online News) – The need for generic marketing for diamond jewelry, a vacant arena since De Beers ended its ‘A Diamonds Is Forever’ campaign, is prompting the Indian diamond industry to launch one on its own. The ~$8 million campaign will be focus on the Indian and Chinese consumer markets.

According to Sanjay Kothari, Vice President of the GJEPC, the trade organization is taking its first steps towards the campaign and will soon hire an outside consultant to advise them.

GJEPC has earmarked $3-$4 million to spend on the campaign in India in three years and a similar sum for the campaign in China.

In 2008, GJEPC launched the Anant marketing initiative to promote jewelry in India.

Kothari is calling on the global diamond centers – in Israel, Belgium and Dubai in particular – to join the effort and widen it to other markets for a wide scale generic diamond campaign. The formation of an international coordination committee is needed, he added.

A few years ago, Russian diamond giant Alrosa proposed a wide scale generic marketing effort known as the St. Petersburg Initiative. Although all large diamond miners and major trading firms had an interest in promoting the effort, it never took off.