Gaetano Cavalieri addressed the 2024 Global Gems & Jewellery Development Conference in Hainan, China, on 19 December. He said that negative marketing strategies harmed the confidence consumers have in the overall industry.
“The items we sell do not necessarily have inherent value – such is the nature of luxury products,” he explained.
“They have perceived value, created by the brands, and through cultural and historic associations.”
He continued: “If the consumer loses confidence in our products, then their value is discounted. Without consumer confidence, a diamond, a ruby, an emerald or an exquisite piece of jade is simply a colourful stone.”
Highlighting disputes between natural diamond and lab-created diamond companies specifically, he suggested it was time for a renewed focus on marketing the positive attributes of diamond jewellery.
“Both the natural diamond sector and the laboratory diamond sector need to disengage and go back to their drawing boards,” Cavalieri added.
“Each needs to clearly brand its product in a realistic and positive way so that consumer confidence will be restored.”
Cavalieri has served as president of CIBJO for more than two decades.
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