When it comes to marketing jewellery to socially and environmentally aware Millennial and Gen Z consumers, pearls should be a slam dunk. Cultivated rather than mined, requiring pristinely maintained marine biospheres, and often supporting communities at risk of extreme climactic events, these much-loved biogenic treasures also have the rare distinction of being among the few truly sustainable gem varieties in existence.

Where the pearl industry lags, however, is in its capacity to mount a coordinated marketing approach, highlighting those key qualities which should attract younger and sustainability-conscious consumers. This is in stark contrast to the diamond, gold and coloured gemstone sectors, all of which are served by international associations, and in the instance of diamonds and gold by bodies dedicated to category marketing.

While the benefits of generic marketing would seem patently obvious for the pearl sector, the task of establishing a structure that could manage such an undertaking is fraught with difficulty, and its operation would be restrictively expensive. But there are solutions that, while falling short of what is being done in the gold and diamond sectors, could nonetheless coordinate the messaging of pearl companies around the word, while at the same time enabling each of them to strengthen their own brand identities.

CIBJO’s Jewellery Industry Voices webinar on April 28, 2022, focussed on the potential of developing a collective marketing strategy for pearls, with the cooperation of independent companies around the world. It was entitled “A GLOBAL PEARL NARRATIVE: The Case for Generic Promotion.”

The webinar panel included Christine Salter, Creative Director of Paspaley Pearl Company; Marion Branellec de Guzman, Chief Marketing Officer of Jewelmer; Shari Turpin, Owner of the Pearls by Shari brand; and David Norman, Owner of Aquarian Pearls.

The seminar was co-moderated by Edward Johnson and Steven Benson, and CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri will welcome participants.