Diamond Industry Throws Off Secrecy to Woo Distrustful Generation

The diamond industry has cleaned up its act and is more transparent than ever before, senior executives have claimed, ahead of the launch of a new marketing campaign targeting young consumers.

Where once diamond producing was dominated by “handshakes and a lot of secrets”, “now it’s all about transparency”, said Stephen Lussier of De Beers, the world’s number one diamond company.

The Botswana-based firm once controlled as much as 90pc of the diamond industry, but since the turn of the century has ceded market share to rivals.

“Twenty years ago, we probably marketed secrecy as a sort of mysterious benefit,” said Mr Lussier, executive vice president of marketing, and a De Beers veteran of 30 years.

“Now the mindset is 180 degrees different. Transparency is a necessity in order to make sure that you have the reputation that you deserve and that the consumer requires.”

Financial transparency made it easier for bankers to know what they were investing in, he added.

The world’s seven biggest diamond miners have now formed the Diamond Producers’ Association, which is about to launch “Real Is Rare”; a marketing campaign targeting young consumers in the US. If successful, it will be rolled out to other regions.

“I think the perception issues we are facing are very unfair,” said Jean-Marc Lieberherr, chief executive of the DPA, who acknowledged that the trade in “blood diamonds” from war zones had damaged the industry’s image. “Diamonds have done more than almost any other industry to self-regulate.”

 “The industry is changing,” agreed Johan Dippenaar, chief executive of Petra Diamonds. “Mines are clean and working conditions are good. The good that people do by buying diamonds is unbelievable.”

It comes as De Beers prepares to leave its historic headquarters near London’s Hatton Garden and move into the offices of Anglo American near Trafalgar Square at the start of next year. Mr Lussier said the building vaults and sorting rooms had been largely empty since diamond processing was moved to Botswana in 2013.

“This is our historic home; people made movies about robbing us, wrote books about it. But De Beers isn’t a building, De Beers is its people and culture,” he said. “It’s just shipping to a nicer neighbourhood.”

The move means the diamond producer will be leaving behind its famous rooftop helipad, used by former chairman Nicky Oppenheimer to fly in for meetings.