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EditorsJul 21, 2009
Less media, more sightholders
So I found out yesterday that we’ve lost two more industry publications. Cygnus Business Media announced Monday it was "suspending" publication of four titles and that, unfortunately, happened to include Modern Jeweler and its high-end sister publication Lustre. My heart...
So I found out yesterday that we’ve lost two more industry publications.
Cygnus Business Media announced Monday it was "suspending" publication of four titles and that, unfortunately, happened to include Modern Jeweler and its high-end sister publication Lustre.
My heart goes out to everybody at Modern and all other industry journalists that have found themselves out of work lately.
In any case, I just wanted to blog a little bit about two interesting bits of industry news that haven't gotten as much press as one might have thought, perhaps because there's less and less of us to report the news.
Last week De Beers announced — in a move even the company acknowledged as “exceptional” — it was adding a Botswana sightholder in the middle of the contract period, Shrenuj Botswana (Pty) Ltd.
The Indian company will be taking over a struggling cutting and polishing factory in the capital city of Gaborone, saving 150 jobs and helping to keep this wonderful country's diamond industry humming.
I'm not exactly clear how swapping one company for another is going to save a diamond factory from extinction in this economy.
I can only speculate that Shrenuj must have a stronger downstream marketing campaign than its predecessor, perhaps targeting a segment of the economy or a part of the world where diamonds actually are selling right now.
This is Shrenuj Botswana's first go-round as a Diamond Trading Co. (DTC) sightholder though its parent company, Shrenuj India Group, has had a sight with the DTC since 1982.
This is an interesting move, for sure.
Earlier this year, as demand reached a near standstill and sights shrunk to microscopic levels, De Beers introduced the idea of siphoning off its extra rough on non-sightholders, causing many to wonder if De Beers would go back to some of the companies it cut in the last realignment.
But they eventually announced that they had abandoned that idea.
A De Beers rep in Botswana said De Beers doesn't anticipate adding any more sightholders, but I guess only time will tell on that one.
In other industry news, there is yet another jewelry industry organization out there, the International Diamond Board, which is essentially the diamond industry's answer to making De Beers’ iconic “A Diamond is Forever,” or something similar, forever.
This organization is supposedly going to bring everybody - the Russians, Australians, Israelis, Indians, Americans, Africans, etc. - together to figure out an advertising campaign that, quite
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simply, will make consumers want to buy more than just an engagement ring.
I think it's a cool concept and one that the industry definitely needs.
From a 30-year-old woman's perspective I can tell you that my friends and I don’t spend our money buying real diamond jewelry.
We’ll drop hundreds, even thousands, on designer handbags that are out of style/worn out/we are sick of in two years or cell phones that can do everything but cook dinner.
It truly is a better investment to buy fine jewelry, particularly diamonds, but that's something that needs to be pointed out to people, young women like myself in particular.
So good luck to the International Diamond Board, which I'll call "IDB."
I don't think those initials are taken yet.
I think it's a cool concept and one that the industry definitely needs.
From a 30-year-old woman's perspective I can tell you that my friends and I don’t spend our money buying real diamond jewelry.
We’ll drop hundreds, even thousands, on designer handbags that are out of style/worn out/we are sick of in two years or cell phones that can do everything but cook dinner.
It truly is a better investment to buy fine jewelry, particularly diamonds, but that's something that needs to be pointed out to people, young women like myself in particular.
So good luck to the International Diamond Board, which I'll call "IDB."
I don't think those initials are taken yet.
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