Dear Friends,
Last month in my President’s Letter, I called for the industry to unite behind a major marketing campaign to create demand for natural diamonds. Others also sounded this call, and for the first time it seems that we have been heard. It seems that we have found the golden formula that would enable the industry to raise $100 million dollars for generic advertising of natural diamonds. This initiative is not yet finalized, but it is a very important step in the right direction.
The above initiative was born at a brainstorming session at the Dubai Diamond Conference, held earlier this month. The conference was the opening event of a week that included an important trade exhibition and the Kimberley Process Plenary.
The conference was attended by owners of the world’s largest diamond companies, heads of global industry organizations from the USA, China, Hong Kong and Europe and representatives of African mining countries — all people with global knowledge and vision. The talks and panels were serious and significant. I was happy to represent the World Federation of Diamond Bourses at both the conference and the KP Plenary.
Both events were led by the Executive Chairman of the Dubai Multi Commodity Center and Chairman of the Kimberley Process Ahmed Bin Sulayem. The KP Plenary directly followed the conference and included representatives of dozens of countries from around the world. At the meeting, Chairman Bin Sulayem delivered a proof of concept for the digitalization of the KP certification process, which would replace paper certificates of origin with tamper-proof blockchain-based certificates. The World Diamond Council, representing the diamond industry, brought an excellent team led by President Feriel Zerouki, who did a professional and effective job in long and difficult discussions with country representatives. The WDC called for expanding the definition of conflict diamonds and increasing transparency in the KP certification Process.
The most important topic on the agenda of the Dubai Diamond Conference was a brainstorming session to discuss how to boost marketing of natural diamonds. At the final session of the conference the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), Antwerp World Diamond Council (AWDC) and India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), in collaboration with the WFDB, IDMA and CIBJO, said they would start looking into funding campaigns of the Natural Diamond Council to promote natural diamonds. More trade bodies are expected to follow suit.
All were in agreement that the industry needs to invest a lot more money in advertising. If we are able to raise $100 million dollars to increase the international advertising pie, this will certainly help us to sell more natural diamonds. However, as I made clear in my letter last month, this effort needs to continue for at least five years, because to change attitudes and perceptions takes time.
My thanks to Ahmed Bin Sulayem for his impressive leadership and for an invested and successful week of top-level diamond and KP meetings. Now for how I see the situation today: The global industry is at the point where prices have stabilized, production in India has decreased by 50-60 percent and inventories, mainly in the US, have decreased significantly. All this, in addition to the multimillion-dollar advertising campaigns of De Beers and the WDC, in the United States and China allow me to be cautious optimistic for the holiday season. And if the industry-wide generic advertising initiative becomes a reality, I will be even more optimistic for the diamond industry’s future.
Warm regards,
Yoram Dvash
