The De Beers Group said Tuesday it will invest more than $140 million in marketing this year—its biggest ad spend since 2008.
The increased investment will be focused on generating further consumer demand for diamond jewelry in the leading markets globally, with the greatest spend targeted in the world’s three largest markets for diamond jewels: the U.S., China and India.
The majority of the advertising budget will support De Beers’ proprietary brands, Forevermark and De Beers Diamond Jewellers. However, the diamond mining and marketing giant said it also will increase its spend on partnership marketing, including with the Diamond Producers Association and India’s Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council.
“Total consumer expenditure on diamond jewelry for the last five years collectively has been the highest on record—and the outlook is positive,” said Stephen Lussier, De Beers Group’s executive VP of Marketing and CEO of Forevermark. “However, we cannot take future growth for granted.”
Lussier added, “Increasing our spend from a strong position will help support continued demand in both mature and developing markets, particularly among millennials, who are already the largest group of diamond consumers despite this generation not having yet reached its maximum earning potential.”
The De Beers statement was short on details, such as when the ad and marketing push will begin and what media is being targeted.
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