Association chief executive Jean-Marc Leiberherr told the De Beers diamond conference in Gaborone that most consumers were 15 years, if not 20 years back in terms of their understanding of the reality of the sector.
“There has been a huge gap in communication about the reality of our sector that has, as you all know have made a significant progress for the past 15 years and we need to reset the clock and explain that while continuing on the journey,” he said.
“Standing still is not an option.”
Leiberherr said synthetic diamond manufacturers had been marketing their products using sustainability as a marketing argument.
“We have seen sustainability so far as diamond miners as our licence to operate. We have got to operate sustainably or we won’t be able to operate,” he said.
Meanwhile, the DPA boss said their ability to prosper as an industry would depend on their ability to win younger consumers.
“Millennials are well or better informed generation ever, so meeting their expectations and winning their minds is a challenge,” he said.
“They think with their hearts and they buy with their hearts everything that they do is driven by their hearts.”
Leiberherr said they had developed a marketing platform for younger generations, dubbed “real is rare, real is a diamond”.
“Real is rare, real is a diamond makes a parallel authenticity and the timeliness of a product and the authenticity of the underlining relationship that you express with a diamond,” he said.
“Now it’s more than that, it’s also a commitment for us all to live in a sincere and genuine manner in the diamond sector. It’s a promise of transparency and authenticity.”
Leiberherr also said that the diamond industry was sitting on a billion-year old miracle of nature that had no equal on this earth in terms of something that was natural, authentic and had not been altered for billions of years.
“So what is better than a diamond that can be a symbol of what is authentic, genuine, sincere and precious?” he said.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, from Gaborone, Botswana, Rough&Polished