‘Brands are not created by you or me, but by the consumers,’ once said a marketing guru. This stands true as India is evolving, awareness is increasing and advertising is being optimally used as a mind-molding tool. With media being the fore runner and indoor and outdoor advertising being the lethal weapons, one tool that has gradually cropped up in advertising and marketing is Social Media. What is Social Media really? Social media includes the various online technology tools that enable people to communicate easily via the internet to share information and resources.%% India is one of the fastest growing countries with respect to internet adoption and the adoption of social media. Social media has led to the usage of the internet for personal entertainment and for connecting with other people. This has made an affiliation-oriented country like India race along in terms of the adoption of this media. But, the question remains is the tradition bound jewellery industry aware of the boon called Social Media and Networking? We asked the advertising czars and marketing honchos, jewellery leaders and many more to throw light on the need of the hour, SOCIAL MEDIA AS MEANS OF ADVERTISING AND BRAND BUILDING IN THE JEWELLERY INDUSTRY.%% The number of internet users in India is now broadly estimated at about a 120 million. The size of the consuming classes in India is around 300 million with a purchasing power extending above the essentials. This proves that internet and social media has harnessed 1/3rd of the consumer base in India who is aware and well-versed with global trends. Facebook is now reported to have over 50 million users in India. About the same are active on Twitter, but can a simple tweet or a status update create a brand and increase the customer base of a jeweler?%% We asked Venkat Mallik, President, Tribal DDB & Rapp India, Mudra Group, if social media is useful for the jewellery industry and to suggest the ways to implement this latest trend in the business. He was promptly answered, “The internet and social media population represents a significant number of people amongst the total number of jewellery buyers. There are a number of different ways that jewellery brands can use social media to build their brands. Jewellery is a high engagement category for women and social and digital media can be used to run co-creation programmes, give special consumers the privilege of being the first to know, manage and run small special group events, tell stories about the brand and the people associated with it and not just restrict the promotion to the product. More initiatives and interesting content will lead to connection with older age groups and with women which can increase the power of this medium.”%%

There is a wide-spread misconception that social media or social networking is mainly youth-centric and potential customers of jewellery cannot be targeted on these platforms. Breaking the myth Venkat opined, “India is a young country with roughly 70% of its population being under 32. The spread of the internet population is likely to follow the population distribution at some level. However, the proliferation of smart phones / tablets and thereby the adoption of mobile internet coupled with new applications for consumer engagement like social media / entertainment applications is making the internet adoption a lot wider in terms of age groups, sex, town, classes, etc”%% Elaborating on the same point Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director Ogilvy & Mather India said, “Social media is not restricted to a certain age group or even a certain country. It is a global phenomenon where an Italian buyer may see your product on any of the social networking sites and place an order. Indian jewellery is fairly popular in the overseas and social media can be useful to increase its popularity world-wide.”%% Piyush further added, “One has to be very subtle when being active on social media with the aims of marketing. It should not look planted or as publicity drive. The industry has to come up with a very interesting and out-of-the-box concept to garner the right response on these platforms. The jewellery industry in India has an advantage that the need for its products is for cultural reasons along with luxury and opulence. Therefore this presents us with a lot of opportunities to be innovative in marketing where the risk of going wrong is very low.”%% When asked if the jewellery industry is making use of this platform Piyush said, “There is a tremendous need for the gems and jewellery industry to realize that any type of marketing and branding is good for their business and is the need of the hour. They should have a fixed budget kept aside for marketing and advertising. The industry has been neglecting branding and advertising since its inception because each player in the industry is happy with his own set of clientele which has been loyal to that jeweler for many generations. The jewelers need to be more ambitious and try and broaden their consumer base.”%% One may find that what the print advertisement could not do, its scanned copy on Facebook or Twitter created a buzz and got thousands of hits. We asked Piyush if social media was a better fom of marketing and advertising than the traditional ways but he disagreed and said, “Social media can be a boost to the traditional tools of marketing and advertising. It can also safely be said that social media is the most economical tool of brand building. But it cannot be said that social media marketing is better than indoor or outdoor advertising as it is a very good support medium to enhance the reach of your advertising. By creating a free account of Facebook, Twitter, etc the jewellers can connect with their customers with just a push of the button.”%%

After talking to the marketing and advertising stalwarts we probed into what the gems and jewellery industry of India thinks about social media as a form of marketing. We asked Vaishali Banerjee, Country Manager India, Platinum Guild International (PGI) if they too indulge in social media activities to strengthen the PGI brand? %% “Every category today is looking at more engagement led platforms of reaching out to their audience. The younger the audience the more active they are in this new technology space. It is important today that jewellery stays as relevant to the daughters as it is for their mothers as well. So what better way to reach out to them than through the dynamic internet or mobile world?” was the quick repartee of Vaishali.%% But is there a direct link of these online promotions to direct sales was our next question for her. “Not really but the overall brand perception and image can be tracked. As per the brand track and consumer studies that we have undertaken, the results show the acceptance of platinum jewellery as a rare and precious metal in India. The interest space of the online audience lies in the circles of love, individuality, respect from peers and equality in relationships. Facebook offered an opportunity to leverage the Platinum Day of Love (PDOL) platform to engage and build a sustainable long term emotional bond with consumers and drive awareness and education of platinum,” she explained.%% “The objective is to make the print advertisements and advertorials work harder by taking interaction with the consumer to the next level with the help of our Facebook activity page,” she said while concurring with Piyush’s point. %%

Taking one step further to make jewellery shopping experience even more intriguing and easy PGI has also introduced augmented reality for those who would like to see how a piece of jewellery would look on themselves through the smartphones. Major brands in India (like Volkswagen, Forever Mark, Ford etc) have successfully run QR code programs and consumers are familiar with the concept.%% With the technology knocking on our door frantically and younger consumers having the lion’s share in India’s growth story, social media and networking can work wonders for our tradition-bound industry which needs a fresher facelift to allure the young guns.

‘Brands are not created by you or me, but by the consumers,’ once said a marketing guru. This stands true as India is evolving, awareness is increasing and advertising is being optimally used as a mind-molding tool. With media being the fore runner and indoor and outdoor advertising being the lethal weapons, one tool that has gradually cropped up in advertising and marketing is Social Media. What is Social Media really? Social media includes the various online technology tools that enable people to communicate easily via the internet to share information and resources.%% India is one of the fastest growing countries with respect to internet adoption and the adoption of social media. Social media has led to the usage of the internet for personal entertainment and for connecting with other people. This has made an affiliation-oriented country like India race along in terms of the adoption of this media. But, the question remains is the tradition bound jewellery industry aware of the boon called Social Media and Networking? We asked the advertising czars and marketing honchos, jewellery leaders and many more to throw light on the need of the hour, SOCIAL MEDIA AS MEANS OF ADVERTISING AND BRAND BUILDING IN THE JEWELLERY INDUSTRY.%% The number of internet users in India is now broadly estimated at about a 120 million. The size of the consuming classes in India is around 300 million with a purchasing power extending above the essentials. This proves that internet and social media has harnessed 1/3rd of the consumer base in India who is aware and well-versed with global trends. Facebook is now reported to have over 50 million users in India. About the same are active on Twitter, but can a simple tweet or a status update create a brand and increase the customer base of a jeweler?%% We asked Venkat Mallik, President, Tribal DDB & Rapp India, Mudra Group, if social media is useful for the jewellery industry and to suggest the ways to implement this latest trend in the business. He was promptly answered, “The internet and social media population represents a significant number of people amongst the total number of jewellery buyers. There are a number of different ways that jewellery brands can use social media to build their brands. Jewellery is a high engagement category for women and social and digital media can be used to run co-creation programmes, give special consumers the privilege of being the first to know, manage and run small special group events, tell stories about the brand and the people associated with it and not just restrict the promotion to the product. More initiatives and interesting content will lead to connection with older age groups and with women which can increase the power of this medium.”%%

There is a wide-spread misconception that social media or social networking is mainly youth-centric and potential customers of jewellery cannot be targeted on these platforms. Breaking the myth Venkat opined, “India is a young country with roughly 70% of its population being under 32. The spread of the internet population is likely to follow the population distribution at some level. However, the proliferation of smart phones / tablets and thereby the adoption of mobile internet coupled with new applications for consumer engagement like social media / entertainment applications is making the internet adoption a lot wider in terms of age groups, sex, town, classes, etc”%% Elaborating on the same point Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director Ogilvy & Mather India said, “Social media is not restricted to a certain age group or even a certain country. It is a global phenomenon where an Italian buyer may see your product on any of the social networking sites and place an order. Indian jewellery is fairly popular in the overseas and social media can be useful to increase its popularity world-wide.”%% Piyush further added, “One has to be very subtle when being active on social media with the aims of marketing. It should not look planted or as publicity drive. The industry has to come up with a very interesting and out-of-the-box concept to garner the right response on these platforms. The jewellery industry in India has an advantage that the need for its products is for cultural reasons along with luxury and opulence. Therefore this presents us with a lot of opportunities to be innovative in marketing where the risk of going wrong is very low.”%% When asked if the jewellery industry is making use of this platform Piyush said, “There is a tremendous need for the gems and jewellery industry to realize that any type of marketing and branding is good for their business and is the need of the hour. They should have a fixed budget kept aside for marketing and advertising. The industry has been neglecting branding and advertising since its inception because each player in the industry is happy with his own set of clientele which has been loyal to that jeweler for many generations. The jewelers need to be more ambitious and try and broaden their consumer base.”%% One may find that what the print advertisement could not do, its scanned copy on Facebook or Twitter created a buzz and got thousands of hits. We asked Piyush if social media was a better fom of marketing and advertising than the traditional ways but he disagreed and said, “Social media can be a boost to the traditional tools of marketing and advertising. It can also safely be said that social media is the most economical tool of brand building. But it cannot be said that social media marketing is better than indoor or outdoor advertising as it is a very good support medium to enhance the reach of your advertising. By creating a free account of Facebook, Twitter, etc the jewellers can connect with their customers with just a push of the button.”%%

After talking to the marketing and advertising stalwarts we probed into what the gems and jewellery industry of India thinks about social media as a form of marketing. We asked Vaishali Banerjee, Country Manager India, Platinum Guild International (PGI) if they too indulge in social media activities to strengthen the PGI brand? %% “Every category today is looking at more engagement led platforms of reaching out to their audience. The younger the audience the more active they are in this new technology space. It is important today that jewellery stays as relevant to the daughters as it is for their mothers as well. So what better way to reach out to them than through the dynamic internet or mobile world?” was the quick repartee of Vaishali.%% But is there a direct link of these online promotions to direct sales was our next question for her. “Not really but the overall brand perception and image can be tracked. As per the brand track and consumer studies that we have undertaken, the results show the acceptance of platinum jewellery as a rare and precious metal in India. The interest space of the online audience lies in the circles of love, individuality, respect from peers and equality in relationships. Facebook offered an opportunity to leverage the Platinum Day of Love (PDOL) platform to engage and build a sustainable long term emotional bond with consumers and drive awareness and education of platinum,” she explained.%% “The objective is to make the print advertisements and advertorials work harder by taking interaction with the consumer to the next level with the help of our Facebook activity page,” she said while concurring with Piyush’s point. %%

Taking one step further to make jewellery shopping experience even more intriguing and easy PGI has also introduced augmented reality for those who would like to see how a piece of jewellery would look on themselves through the smartphones. Major brands in India (like Volkswagen, Forever Mark, Ford etc) have successfully run QR code programs and consumers are familiar with the concept.%% With the technology knocking on our door frantically and younger consumers having the lion’s share in India’s growth story, social media and networking can work wonders for our tradition-bound industry which needs a fresher facelift to allure the young guns.

‘Brands are not created by you or me, but by the consumers,’ once said a marketing guru. This stands true as India is evolving, awareness is increasing and advertising is being optimally used as a mind-molding tool. With media being the fore runner and indoor and outdoor advertising being the lethal weapons, one tool that has gradually cropped up in advertising and marketing is Social Media. What is Social Media really? Social media includes the various online technology tools that enable people to communicate easily via the internet to share information and resources.%% India is one of the fastest growing countries with respect to internet adoption and the adoption of social media. Social media has led to the usage of the internet for personal entertainment and for connecting with other people. This has made an affiliation-oriented country like India race along in terms of the adoption of this media. But, the question remains is the tradition bound jewellery industry aware of the boon called Social Media and Networking? We asked the advertising czars and marketing honchos, jewellery leaders and many more to throw light on the need of the hour, SOCIAL MEDIA AS MEANS OF ADVERTISING AND BRAND BUILDING IN THE JEWELLERY INDUSTRY.%% The number of internet users in India is now broadly estimated at about a 120 million. The size of the consuming classes in India is around 300 million with a purchasing power extending above the essentials. This proves that internet and social media has harnessed 1/3rd of the consumer base in India who is aware and well-versed with global trends. Facebook is now reported to have over 50 million users in India. About the same are active on Twitter, but can a simple tweet or a status update create a brand and increase the customer base of a jeweler?%% We asked Venkat Mallik, President, Tribal DDB & Rapp India, Mudra Group, if social media is useful for the jewellery industry and to suggest the ways to implement this latest trend in the business. He was promptly answered, “The internet and social media population represents a significant number of people amongst the total number of jewellery buyers. There are a number of different ways that jewellery brands can use social media to build their brands. Jewellery is a high engagement category for women and social and digital media can be used to run co-creation programmes, give special consumers the privilege of being the first to know, manage and run small special group events, tell stories about the brand and the people associated with it and not just restrict the promotion to the product. More initiatives and interesting content will lead to connection with older age groups and with women which can increase the power of this medium.”%%

There is a wide-spread misconception that social media or social networking is mainly youth-centric and potential customers of jewellery cannot be targeted on these platforms. Breaking the myth Venkat opined, “India is a young country with roughly 70% of its population being under 32. The spread of the internet population is likely to follow the population distribution at some level. However, the proliferation of smart phones / tablets and thereby the adoption of mobile internet coupled with new applications for consumer engagement like social media / entertainment applications is making the internet adoption a lot wider in terms of age groups, sex, town, classes, etc”%% Elaborating on the same point Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director Ogilvy & Mather India said, “Social media is not restricted to a certain age group or even a certain country. It is a global phenomenon where an Italian buyer may see your product on any of the social networking sites and place an order. Indian jewellery is fairly popular in the overseas and social media can be useful to increase its popularity world-wide.”%% Piyush further added, “One has to be very subtle when being active on social media with the aims of marketing. It should not look planted or as publicity drive. The industry has to come up with a very interesting and out-of-the-box concept to garner the right response on these platforms. The jewellery industry in India has an advantage that the need for its products is for cultural reasons along with luxury and opulence. Therefore this presents us with a lot of opportunities to be innovative in marketing where the risk of going wrong is very low.”%% When asked if the jewellery industry is making use of this platform Piyush said, “There is a tremendous need for the gems and jewellery industry to realize that any type of marketing and branding is good for their business and is the need of the hour. They should have a fixed budget kept aside for marketing and advertising. The industry has been neglecting branding and advertising since its inception because each player in the industry is happy with his own set of clientele which has been loyal to that jeweler for many generations. The jewelers need to be more ambitious and try and broaden their consumer base.”%% One may find that what the print advertisement could not do, its scanned copy on Facebook or Twitter created a buzz and got thousands of hits. We asked Piyush if social media was a better fom of marketing and advertising than the traditional ways but he disagreed and said, “Social media can be a boost to the traditional tools of marketing and advertising. It can also safely be said that social media is the most economical tool of brand building. But it cannot be said that social media marketing is better than indoor or outdoor advertising as it is a very good support medium to enhance the reach of your advertising. By creating a free account of Facebook, Twitter, etc the jewellers can connect with their customers with just a push of the button.”%%

After talking to the marketing and advertising stalwarts we probed into what the gems and jewellery industry of India thinks about social media as a form of marketing. We asked Vaishali Banerjee, Country Manager India, Platinum Guild International (PGI) if they too indulge in social media activities to strengthen the PGI brand? %% “Every category today is looking at more engagement led platforms of reaching out to their audience. The younger the audience the more active they are in this new technology space. It is important today that jewellery stays as relevant to the daughters as it is for their mothers as well. So what better way to reach out to them than through the dynamic internet or mobile world?” was the quick repartee of Vaishali.%% But is there a direct link of these online promotions to direct sales was our next question for her. “Not really but the overall brand perception and image can be tracked. As per the brand track and consumer studies that we have undertaken, the results show the acceptance of platinum jewellery as a rare and precious metal in India. The interest space of the online audience lies in the circles of love, individuality, respect from peers and equality in relationships. Facebook offered an opportunity to leverage the Platinum Day of Love (PDOL) platform to engage and build a sustainable long term emotional bond with consumers and drive awareness and education of platinum,” she explained.%% “The objective is to make the print advertisements and advertorials work harder by taking interaction with the consumer to the next level with the help of our Facebook activity page,” she said while concurring with Piyush’s point. %%

Taking one step further to make jewellery shopping experience even more intriguing and easy PGI has also introduced augmented reality for those who would like to see how a piece of jewellery would look on themselves through the smartphones. Major brands in India (like Volkswagen, Forever Mark, Ford etc) have successfully run QR code programs and consumers are familiar with the concept.%% With the technology knocking on our door frantically and younger consumers having the lion’s share in India’s growth story, social media and networking can work wonders for our tradition-bound industry which needs a fresher facelift to allure the young guns.