The Diamond Producers Association (DPA) interviewed about 100 millennials in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenyang and Zhanjiang in 2017 with two conclusions: They crave for a long-lasting relationship but are clueless about how to maintain it; they long for diamonds without knowing its symbolic meaning in addition to its inspirational role in daily life. To strengthen the connection between diamonds and sincere relationships in millennials’ minds, DPA has launched the ‘Real is Rare, Real is a Diamond’ marketing campaign in China in 2018 with a wide range of projects such as online training guides, celebrity reality shows, online games, KOL sharings and experience rooms.
Promotion flashback
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the marriage rate in China has declined for five consecutive years. Meanwhile, the divorce rate has risen for 15 consecutive years, which means 38 in every 100 couples apply for a divorce. DPA’s celebrity reality show ‘Happiness Trio’ which broadcasted on Tencent Video featured three married celebrity couples: actors, Jiang Qinqin and Chen Jianbin who have married for over 10 years, national table tennis players, Ai Fukuhara and Chiang Hungchieh and flash marriage couple Barbie Hsu and Wang Xiaofei. With 1.5 billion total broadcast frequencies, the show allows audience to reflect on love and marriage by unveiling how the couples get along well with each other. During the show, Chiang asked Ai why she wore the wedding ring when she was cooking. Ai said it felt like he was beside her all along which helped her cook better. The interaction between couples encourages audience to take their wedding rings out of the drawer and let them sparkle ever after the proposing second as a witness of love.
In September 2018, DPA launched an online training guide named “Diamond Exploration” on WeChat to offer diamond knowledge in a fun and reader-friendly way such as the pressure requires to form a diamond is equivalent to the weight of the Eiffel Tower turning upside down. A total of 815 users and more than 20 retailers registered for the programme in just three months with nearly half of them finished all available courses. In view of the success, DPA launched an e-learning programme titled ‘Behind the Brilliance of Diamonds’ for retailers in the United States providing them with educational materials about diamonds for story-telling.
Apart from promotion campaigns on social media platforms, a nine-day pop-up Real is Rare Café was opened in Shanghai during the Christmas season. Visitors could enjoy free drinks and fortune cookies with questions such as “When was the last time you feel loved” inside, allowed couples to look back at the heartwarming moments which were neglected by an occupied life and dive deeper into each other's views and values via their answers. DPA cooperated with Chow Tai Fook and let visitors to try its T Mark jewellery on. The event recorded more than 1,000 cherished and loving moments.
Mabel Wong McCormick, managing director of DPA Greater China said the campaigns in 2018 received 2.8 billion total impression and 87 million paid media unique reach. She said: “DPA’s promotion theme in 2018 is Live in Love. It encourages people to discover, protect and celebrate love which gave birth to the Protection and Celebration of Precious Love, the promotion theme of 2019. DPA encourages consumers to express and protect their love regardless of their stage of life.” She added that this year’s goal is to team up with retailers and key opinion leaders to promote on different platforms. She aspires to strengthen customers’ emotional connection with diamonds, educate them the rarity and preciousness of diamonds and encourage the development of natural diamond industry in China.
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