In late August, De Beers announced that it is planning to boost its marketing budget to $140 million this year – the most the diamond miner has spent on advertising diamonds since 2008. De Beers stressed that it will focus on its three largest markets – US, China and India, and will direct “most of its attention on its Forevermark and De Beers Diamond Jewellers brands and also increase contributions to the Diamond Producers Association”. Now, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) is praising the move.
According to IDEX Online, GJEPC Chairman Praveenshankar Pandya said that De Beer’s increased spending is “extremely heartening”, then added: “The combined generic promotional budget for both De Beers and the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) will top the $200 million mark and this sizeable spend will help in diamond category marketing in the key markets of India, China and the US. This is a good beginning and can help in instilling confidence in the key stakeholders and boosting demand. However, we urge other partners to come forward and add to the marketing budget so as to have a cascading effect on consumers”.
GJEPC Vice Chairman Russell Mehta added that “GJEPC has been at the forefront of teaming up with major diamond producers to start generic marketing of diamonds and we shall continue to pursue such collaborative and mutually beneficial initiatives”.
