August 2003 Editorial Find Diamond Marketing That's Right for You This year’s JCK Show buzzed with energetic diamond companies eager to tell jewelers about their new or improved efforts to market diamonds. Many programs were initially spurred by De Beers’ Diamond Trading Co.’s Supplier of Choice initiative, which requires its clients to think more about increasing demand for diamonds. I also found it interesting that a number of non-DTC clients are working hard to raise the noise level about diamonds in the consumer marketplace. How’s a jeweler to choose from the many companies offering diamond programs? Though in the early years I wasn’t enthusiastic about the types of branding the pioneers of this movement promoted, I’ve come to see there’s probably a choice that will suit every jeweler out there. Many clever programs add sizzle to the selling message without losing sight of your need to keep your store’s name in the forefront. In our first five years, Professional Jeweler published 62 articles on diamond marketing and branding, according to our online archives. Many referenced several companies each, so we’ve probably written about more than 100 programs in that time. This month’s Diamond News section is no exception. I interviewed four companies at the JCK Show that illustrate the wide range of initiatives. Three of the companies are DTC clients, or sightholders, and one is not. The first, Kwiat, is a well-known U.S. sightholder that for years sold beautiful but generic diamond jewelry. Now in the third year of a five-year consumer branding push, Kwiat continues with one approach some jewelers find successful. The company has taken the public, high-end road to diamond branding, complete with an army of specialists to help it with consumer advertising and public relations. We detail how Kwiat is fine-tuning its program. We also look at Gemglow and CMNY, both India-headquartered DTC sightholders with active U.S. divisions. These companies produce more-affordable merchandise and, like Kwiat, are committed to creating consumer-friendly jewelry. Gemglow is the new diamond jewelry division of the huge Lakhi Group. Its debut collections are quality promotional fashion pieces, there’s a signature branded collection in the works and a team of talented designers behind it all. CMNY is the latest branding venture of CM Group, known as C. Mahendra in India. CMNY prides itself on making jewelry collections that will appeal to trendy, upwardly mobile buyers. We also look at an English company called Hot Diamonds, which has devised an easy-to-use marketing program for well-made silver jewelry containing small diamonds. Despite their sizes, the diamonds are very much a part of this extremely affordable jewelry’s appeal, say jewelers. So is this company’s marketing package, which jewelers rave about. Each of these companies is taking a different but determined approach to amplifying the excitement around diamonds. Depending on your store’s image, your customer profiles and your pocketbook, at least one will provide a message you can parlay into successful sales. If these four aren’t right for you, never fear. At last count, DTC said it was aware of more than 200 sightholder intiatives – and that may just be the tip of the iceberg. Good luck and happy hunting. – Peggy Jo Donahue