Sriram “Ram” Natarajan is now GIA’s senior vice president of laboratory operations and is based out of the lab’s headquarters in Carlsbad.
Man-Made Diamond Co. Wants Consumers to ‘Shine’
Altr is rolling out a new brand campaign encouraging women to “shine brighter,” in its man-made diamonds, of course.

New York--Altr is rolling out a new brand campaign encouraging women to “shine brighter,” in its man-made diamonds, of course.
Altr is the lab-grown diamond arm of the family-owned Riam Group, which has been in the mined diamond business for almost 80 years.
The company’s man-made diamonds are sold stores in the United States, Australia and Canada, set in both private-label jewelry and under the Altr name.
And this summer at the JCK Show, Altr launched a brand called Lovemonster that, company President Amish Shah said in an interview earlier this year, is marketed toward modern couples who might be more concerned with the intensity of their love than the longevity of their relationship. Lovemonster will be available at select retail outlets in spring 2018.
Now, Altr is rolling out an overarching marketing campaign for its man-made diamonds.
Called “Shine Brighter,” Altr gave a first look at the campaign last month at the Hong Kong jewelry show.
Shot in the Los Angeles fashion district by wedding photographer Jose Villa, it was designed to emulate big fashion brands in being a more lifestyle-oriented campaign, meaning fewer couples holdings hands and more shots showing how the product can fit into the consumer’s everyday life.
It’s meant to be different from the current videos and imagery used in a lot of jewelry industry advertising, which can be “so boring,” Shah said in an interview this week.
Shine Brighter also is intended to bring attention to man-made diamonds by emphasizing the beauty of Altr’s stones instead of trying to position them as the “ethical” and “eco-friendly” alternative to mined diamonds, which Shah has said he believes is a mistake many diamond growers are making, and to educate the public.
Included in the campaign is a one-minute video on Altr’s diamond-growing process. It is digital but also will be made available to retail partners for both staff training and public education purposes.
Shah said retailers will begin receiving in-store assets for the campaign, including in-showcase display systems, brand videos and on-counter collaterals such as tablets and tri-folds, in the next two weeks.
Co-op advertising is part of the campaign but is specific to each retail partner, and there is also a promotional spiff program for sales associates.
The digital portion of the campaign, which will be live for this holiday season but also continue into 2018, is set to launch later this month.
It will appear on Altr’s website, which pushes consumers
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