OREANDA-NEWS. ALROSA is planning to launch marketing programs promoting Russian-mined diamonds, chief executive officer Andrey Zharkov said Monday.

The company will run pilot programs in key markets this year, marking the first time it is engaging in direct marketing of its own, he noted.

The Russian miner is one of seven member companies of the Diamond Producers Association, which is mandated to produce generic marketing on behalf of the industry, but until now has shied away from running its own advertising campaigns.

However, Zharkov recognized the need for the industry to increase its efforts to raise consumer demand.

“High-value, competing alternatives have fared better than diamond jewelry over the last decade,” he said during International Diamond Week in Israel. “We all need to increase our marketing effort. Over the next few years, it’s one of the strategic goals of the industry to increase demand at the consumer level.”

Zharkov noted that millennial consumers were looking for assurances regarding the authenticity of their purchases, and that traceability programs were consequently gaining momentum. Tracing and promotion of natural diamonds are also necessary to protect the supply chain from undisclosed synthetic diamonds illegally making their way in, he added.

ALROSA is therefore participating in the Gemological Institute of America (GIA)’s “mine to market” program, Zharkov reported.