The Board of Directors of the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) has approved the 2017 full-year marketing investment of $57 million, the DPA announced at the JCK show earlier this week. According to Diamond World, this “more than quadruples” the budget for 2016.
Stephen Lussier, DPA’s Chairman, said: “The Board’s decision is a major turning point for the Diamond Producers Association and the diamond industry. […] We look forward to working closely with the diamond and jewelry trade and with other industry organizations to build a stronger future for our sector”.
Jean-Marc Lieberherr, CEO of DPA, added that the DPA has “ambitious plans for the second half of the year”, including “multichannel advertising, innovative digital programs, and high-impact PR campaigns”. According to the report, the media plan under the new budget will push DPA’s Real is Rare campaign “well beyond TV and digital”. In the fourth quarter of the year, the DPA will roll out “a new retail training support program focused on the new diamond narrative”.
IDE President Yoram Dvash, who is currently attending JCK Las Vegas, expressed his satisfaction with the decision. Dvash, who is also Vice President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), is quoted by the IDE website as saying: “In all my meetings with the chiefs of De Beers and Alrosa, two issues keep coming up: the need to create a direct supply route of rough diamonds to Israel, and the need to increase the marketing budget of the DPA. I’ve done all I can to speak up about the importance of an increased budget, especially in a time when the entire industry is pulling resources to reignite demand and pull out of the crisis. I’m very happy with the DPA’s decision, an I’m sure we’ll see a rise in demand for diamonds and diamond jewelry after marketing efforts will have picked up”.
WFDB President Ernie Blom also congratulated the DPA on its decision, saying: “This is a decision which the whole diamond industry was hoping would be reached, and it takes the DPA to a completely new level of operations. I would like to congratulate the members of the DPA for taking this courageous decision. It is very good news for all of us involved in diamonds”.
