DPA Annual Budget Rises to $70M

RAPAPORT... Funds available for the Diamond Producers Association (DPA)to spend on generic marketing will jump to $70 million this year following anincrease in contributions from its members.The extra cash will enable the organization to grow its USmarketing and expand campaigns around the world, Jean-Marc Lieberherr, its CEO,said in an exclusive interview with Rapaport News, during the forthcoming edition of In the Loupe - The Rapaport DiamondPodcast. "Last year, we invested about $50 million in our first realyear of investment, which was significant," Lieberherr (pictured) said."In 2018, we're looking at investing about $70 million, which means we'll beable to slightly increase the level of effort in the US." The larger budget will also support the DPA's first fullyear of investment in India, where it launched a campaign in November, andkick-start its efforts in China, which are due to begin in April, the executiveadded. (See below for the recent Indianadvertising commercial, "Moving Day.") The DPA gets its funding from seven miners who establishedit in 2015, chiefly De Beers and Alrosa. Its annual spending power has grown from just $6 million in 2016, whenit launched its marketing efforts. The group invested 90% of its 2017 budget in the US lastyear, resulting in about one billion "paid impressions," referring to thenumber of times a sponsored item appeared on someone's web browser. It spent $15 million in the fourth quarter,including on short video advertisements ahead of the holidays. The DPA will spend about $40 million on paid media in the USthis year. Next month, it will partner with broadcasters for the Winter Olympicsin Pyeongchang, South Korea, aiming to capitalize on potential parallelsbetween the sporting event and the diamond industry. "The approach I've taken with the DPA is let's startsmall, let's demonstrate how much value we're creating, let's build our capabilities,and as we do, let's increase our investment," Lieberherr commented in thepodcast, which will be published this week.The DPA aims to improve consumers' impression of diamondsover the long term, rather than boost retailers' revenues in the immediatefuture, Lieberherr noted. For that reason, it will spread its spending fairlyevenly across the year, rather than splurging it all on a holiday campaign. "Our role is not to drive sales during holiday seasons- that's what brands and retailers do," the former Rio Tinto diamonds chiefexplained. "Our role is to create fertile, emotional territory through [an] ongoingpresence and an ongoing dialogue with consumers throughout the year. All thiswhile we build our organization, we build our capabilities. We're not here forthe next one, two, three years, we're here for the next couple of decades toreally have an impact on the industry."