NDC: 80% of Marketing Spend to Target Consumers

(IDEX Online) - The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) will redirect at least 80% of its future advertising investment to consumer-facing campaigns, according to CEO Amber Pepper.

She was speaking last week at a trade meeting in Mumbai, organized by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).

She did not say what percentage of the budget was currently being spent on consumers, but she said the focus would be on younger buyers and cultural storytelling.

The NDC will focus on Gen Z and millennial audiences, especially in India, using digital-first, social and streaming content, she said.

Pepper, who took over from David Kellie in February, said the organization's objective was to "recapture the power and value of diamonds as a universal source of wonder".

She outlined six transformation pillars: industry unity, category marketing, organizational evolution, consumer design, cultural relevance, and category protection.

Pepper also announced a data-driven Diamond Desire Index to track consumer consideration, purchase intent, sentiment and recommendation levels for natural diamonds in the US, India and China.

And a Natural Diamond Mark, a consumer trust mark intended for use on natural diamonds and jewelry, designed to help shoppers distinguish natural stones from lab-grown.