The Diamond Producers Association recently introduced “Real is Rare,” the new marketing campaign designed to stoke millennials’ interest in diamonds.
Now, let me start this blog by saying that it’s way too early to pass any judgements on the success or failure of the campaign, which is only about three weeks old.
I believe the real tell for “Real is Rare” will be more long term. It won’t be gauged on the comments sections of social media sites but, rather, at the cash registers in jewelry stores in coming years.
And the Diamond Producers Association knows that; they don’t expect this campaign to move the needle on diamond jewelry demand overnight.
As DPA Chairman Stephen Lussier noted at the campaign’s launch party held earlier this month in New York, “We’re not setting out to transform Christmas this year, or even perhaps Christmas next (year), although I’d like to think we’d have a positive impact.
“Our real mission here is the long-term foundation of making sure that these consumers now, these millennials … that they have this belief in the diamond dream.”
That being said, here are a few thoughts in the immediate wake of the launch of “Real is Rare” with some insights from the DPA’s Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Marquardt, who took time to chat with me on the phone on Monday.
1. The negative comments aren’t anything new. On social media, they mostly are along the lines of diamonds aren’t really rare, the whole diamond engagement ring thing is a scam perpetrated by De Beers to sell more diamonds (as if De Beers is the only company in the world to ever successfully market its product), they’re all “blood diamonds,” etc.
