NDC Campaign: Ready to Roll, Just Waiting for Cash
October 16, 25
The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) says it has a marketing campaign that's "ready to roll" - it's just waiting for the six African diamond producers who signed up to the Luanda Accord to provide the funding.
David Kellie, outgoing CEO of the NDC, declined to put a date on when the campaign could launch in an interview with IDEX Online this week. But he did indicate it could still happen before the end of the year.
He was asked: "Is it likely there will be a campaign launched during your tenure (which ends on 31 December 2025)?"
He responded: "I hope so, I believe so, and even if it's not with all the money, I'm hoping that at least we can start the campaign in Q4."
Kellie says the diamond producers agreed to invest 1 per cent of their annual rough diamond revenues when they met in the Angolan capital in June, but didn't set a legally-binding timeframe.
"The campaign and the plan is all ready to roll. It's just that we need the money in the bank," he said.
He was speaking after the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) issued an open letter (on 9 October) expressing frustration that the campaign had not been launched, ahead of the holiday sales season.
The governments of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo all pledged to contribute 1 per cent of the value of their rough sales annually into generic category marketing campaigns created by the NDC.
The agreement they signed specifically referred to supporting "the peak sales season of 2025 and beyond".
But Kellie said the NDC needed money in the bank before it could launch its campaign promoting the provenance and beauty of natural diamonds.
"The Luanda Accord was an agreement, a commitment, rather than a legally binding document, for those African producer nations to contribute 1 per cent of diamond revenues to generic category marketing through the NDC," he said.
"Each of those countries needs to work with their stakeholders and their own internal structures to figure out how that 1 per cent commitment is going to be met."
Botswana was relatively straightforward, he said, with 95 per cent of rough sales being made by De Beers or the state-owned Okavango Diamond Company.
Angola was "not too far off" transferring funds, he said.
The government has agreed to contribute $8m through its mining and marketing companies Endiama and Sodiam (to be matched by $8m from De Beers).
South Africa was complicated, Kellie said, because the government doesn't sell diamonds. It profits through taxes and royalties.
"I was hoping that we would have enough money to be able to run a campaign in Q4 in the biggest market, which is the US, and do some other initiatives in India and China," he said.
"It has taken longer than I would have hoped, particularly in the case of Angola, but that might also be my naivety in not really understanding the hoops they have to jump through internally to be able to finalize any legal agreements.
"Coming out of the Luanda agreement we had a board meeting with current and future contributors at the end of July. We presented the strategy and plans (for the campaign) and got approval."
Kellie said he expects the 1 per cent contributions from African producers to raise $70m annually for NDC campaigns, and he believes non-African producers, including Russia, should also be investing 1 per cent in their own generic category marketing. "No diamond should get a free ride," he said.
He emphasized that the campaign was a long-term investment, and that, likewise, the rewards would be reaped over the long-term.
"The LVMHs and Richemonts of the world are so strong because they invest in building the values of the brands in good times and in bad times consistently," he said.
"And in doing so, they build very profitable entities. "The Luanda Accord recognizes that this is not a short-term agreement, it's a multi-year agreement."
How will the NDC measure success? "We're not a retailer so we can't directly track it back to individual sales of diamonds but 95 per cent of the campaign is done through digital channels so we can very clearly see engagement levels on all fronts with the campaign, not just the engagement but the emotional connection."
Kellie steps down after six years at the helm of the NDC at the end of the year and says he looks forward to a long and happy retirement. No successor has yet been announced.
Have a fabulous weekend.