Got Jewelry? Help Build Our Industry's Future!

When was the last time the fine jewelry industry was able to put life back into sales after a 20 year slump? Do you know of any promotion within our industry that boasts over 90 percent awareness? According to Wikipedia, these are just some of the many accomplishments of the "Got Milk?" campaign, launched in 1993.

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Got Jewelry? Help Build Our Industry's Future! #1
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When was the last time the fine jewelry industry was able to put life back into sales after a 20 year slump? Do you know of any promotion within our industry that boasts over 90 percent awareness? According to Wikipedia, these are just some of the many accomplishments of the "Got Milk?" campaign, launched in 1993.
While this may be the best example of an industry working together to promote a consumer product, it is also the roadmap that the highly fragmented fine jewelry industry needs to follow to ensure our long-term success in the face of challenges at all levels of the pipeline.
In January 2008, I held a lecture in Mumbai, India, which was attended by 150 key individuals from the Indian diamond and finance realms. In addition, I held 24 one-on-one meetings with jewelry manufacturers. The sentiment was clear: Everyone was interested in seeing change to grow the fine jewelry business in the largest market in the world, the U.S.
The price of raw materials is skyrocketing, luxury dollars at retail are not being spent within our category, and the margin at every transaction from mine to market is being squeezed. We have to ask ourselves: Where do we go from here?
I believe we have to start unifying our industry and viewing each other as partners with the common goal of selling fine jewelry through to the consumer, much like the milk industry does. Now that De Beers continues to reduce their marketing spend in the U.S., it is up to us to begin developing a broad-based, far-reaching, generic consumer advertising campaign to rekindle the romance of our product. Yes, I am talking to you—the mines, the manufacturers, the wholesalers, the trade organizations, the retailers—all of you!
Here is what we know: Reaching the consumers in the noisy, polluted ad space is next to impossible and most individual companies do not have the means to project their message loud enough to reach their customers. Fine jewelry sales are not living up to their potential and nearly everyone in our business is frustrated by it.
All of these concerns can be addressed, and the sale of fine jewelry greatly enhanced, by a nationwide, generic advertising campaign through television, the Internet, and print. Don't be afraid of "generic," it simply means that specific styles or brands of jewelry are not the focus. We need to awaken the drive to purchase fine jewelry, convey how easy it is to purchase, position it a much needed fashion accessory, rebuild the trust in our product, and sell the idea that everyone loves fine jewelry.
Now comes the hard question: Where does the money come from? Although it's hard to find anyone who doesn't think this idea has merit it will be harder still to find those who are willing to support the cause financially.
Here is one "out of the box" idea that sprung up during my trip to India which could translate to every jewelry importing country.
In order for the Indian manufacturers to realize a benefit from selling to the U.S. market, the current business model will need to evolve. Long payment terms, even longer memo programs, take-back returns and even buy-back of other manufacturer's product is just the short-list of what is perceived as unreasonable demands that U.S. retailers place on manufacturers.
If U.S. retailers are willing to modify their expectations, it creates an opportunity for manufacturers to improve their business model, and therefore their bottom lines. There is a willingness on behalf of the Indian manufacturing community to contribute some of this new-found margin into an industry-wide marketing fund.
This could represent millions of dollars which could be applied towards helping drive U.S. consumers to purchase fine jewelry. We believe all import countries would be interested if it meant the amount of imports would rise. Domestic manufacturers and product trade associations would need to pitch in as well.
There are many other ways that can be considered to fund this initiative, most of which involve minimal sacrifice from any one entity within our industry. We are confident this can be a win-win scenario and we can start to see results in as little as a few months, with hopes for a promising 2008 holiday season. But we need to start now.
author: Liz Chatelain
MVI Marketing, Ltd., Paso Robles, California




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