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DPA To Unveil Key Findings Of Diamond Consumer Research Friday In Las Vegas | June 01, 2016 (0 comments)
Las Vegas, NV—The Diamond Producers Association will unveil the key findings of a massive research project it undertook this year to better understand where consumers stand on their view of and desire for diamonds.
In an exclusive interview with The Centurion Newsletter, DPA executive director Jean-Marc Lieberherr gave a preview of some of the issues that emerged. The full survey will be revealed on Friday, June 3 at the DPA breakfast in Las Vegas.
The purpose of the survey was threefold, said Lieberherr. One, to ensure there is demand for diamonds in the short, medium, and long term requires revitalizing category marketing—underinvested for the past 10 years—and bring it top of mind to make it relevant to today’s consumers, especially Millennials, who within a few years will overtake Boomers in consumer spending.
Second is to build confidence with key stakeholders with both the diamond sector and product. Key stakeholders include investors, bankers, governments, NGOs, bankers, and the public at large. The industry must produce reliable credible information about how the sector operates, the sustainability of mining, and the reality of the sector from a financial point of view.
Third, the DPA seeks to be a force for continuous improvement in the sector, from health and safety of diamond mines, working conditions in cutting sector, disclosure of synthetics at the retail level, et cetera.
The DPA is especially focused on fast tracking its category marketing work. Quantitative research was conducted to develop strategy for a new marketing platform and a new promise and purpose for diamonds in the customer’s mind. Its goal is to play side by side with the industry’s original positioning that “a diamond is forever.”
“We need to actualize the message and talk to the younger generation in away that’s more in keeping with what their aspirations and concerns are,” Lieberherr told The Centurion. “We wanted to understand who they are. Younger Millennials are starting to think about diamonds with changes in their lives. It’s a very important target for us. Also, we know the earlier you start on diamond consumption, the more faithful diamond buyer you are the rest of your life.”
Millennials are anticipated to overtake Boomers in buying power within a few years.
Key insights that came out of the DPA’s research:
1. Millennials are a lot more interested in experiences than material possessions. “When you leave college with $200,000 of debt, accumulating goods is not top of mind; you want to live in the moment now,” said Lieberherr. Asked what they want to spend their money on, a large majority want to spend it on travel, he said. “As a product, if you want to appeal to them, you have to be part of the experience.”
2. Millennials want to define their own rituals, as opposed to conforming to what they see as antiquated conventions. In their minds, older generations lost the right to tell them what to do and as a generation they are a lot more independent minded, socially independent, and in control their own lives.
“From a product point of view, you have to be part of their world, and they have to internalize the choice. Theirs is an interesting perspective: ‘I buy things that make me smile, not things that make other people jealous,’” explained Lieberherr.
3. Millennials are more interested in celebrating progress than milestones; and celebrating future opportunities or an opening into the future than a milestone like 10 years or 20 years. It’s about celebrating moments of progress, discovery, and fulfillment.
4. A really relevant finding, especially for the “wired” generation, is that in a sea of artificial connections and superficial emotions and relationships—having 1000 friends on Facebook where 80% are people they never even met—there is a craving for connections and relationships that are real and mean something.
The DPA survey also undertook to understand Millennials’ representations about diamonds and what purpose diamonds play in their lives. Among the findings:
1. There is a disassociation with diamonds because they’re linked to rituals. Millennials are not relating emotionally to the product because it is so heavily attached to these conventions and rituals. It doesn’t make it interesting to Millennials or drive a desire to own it.
2. Diamonds are intimidating. The fact that it is so charged meanings and rituals, and therefore that if [the man] is going to be giving a diamond, how is she going to receive it? Will she think, it’s too big, too small, too expensive, or too cheap? The woman thinks, “OMG, is it too early, too big, too small, how will he react to my reaction, what is he doing?”
This, says Lieberheer, makes giving a diamond an intimidating thing to do because its meaning is proscribed by conventions, not necessarily what you want it to mean, which is part of what makes diamonds not part of their vocabulary.
But, says Lieberherr, the survey shows an ironic twist: although Millennials don’t relate to all the rituals and conventions associated with diamonds, they love the idea of a diamond—because it’s from the earth and millions of years old, it is seen as genuine and authentic. It has gravitas. They do love the idea and can relate to it--but not the way it’s been talked about or associated with rituals and conventions.
The whole question, says Lieberherr, is how do we match their aspirations together with what a diamond can do?
“What we’ve come up with is that the new purpose for a diamond is to celebrate rare and special and the real connections choose to make. It’s not about following social ritual or doing what’s expected; it’s about rare special real moments of emotion, real relationships, defining moments of a relationship. It’s more internalized and more emotional than way we’ve been talking about diamonds till now.”
These elements have been translated into a visual identity that is going to be the signature of the category marketing campaign, which will be unveiled on Friday, at the breakfast in Las Vegas, along with an expanded version of the research.
The presentation will be in the Tradewinds Ballrooms C and D at Mandalay Bay on Friday, June 3, from 8:00 to 9:15 a.m. Admission is free but seating is limited.
Top image: IDEXonline.com