Journey's the Thing at JA

A wise man once observed of our spiritual, as well as physical wanderings that, "the journey's the thing." Judging from the buzz at this week's JA NY Summer Show, the Diamond Trading Company (DTC), aided by the pre-launch efforts of the Diamond Promotion Service (DPS), is trying to infuse new life and excitement into the retail sector with its newest campaign – Journey.

Buyers throughout the show are paying great attention to the soon-to-be-launched Journey campaign, as conversations with exhibitors offering comprehensive, turn-key programs in support of the DTC's initiative are getting a lot of interest.

The Journey marketing campaign was born out of research from the DTC that found that women seek ‘relationship fulfillment’, a mental state that says "prove to me that you love me" by buying diamond jewelry.

Journey aims at this need, offers jewelry items that includes at least four diamonds, usually 20–70 pointers that become progressively larger, signifying the growing relationship.

Steve MacDiarmid of the Lafayette, Louisiana-based jeweler Stuller, a DTC Sightholder, expressed great pleasure that so many retailers, big and small, were interested in being fully prepared for the DTC's newest retail initiative.

"We've already sold nearly two dozen kits for our Journey's program here at JA and, interest in our diamond inventories from the retailers we're seeing, as we're sight holders, has also increased. We're very pleased so far and we, like so many in the industry, are eagerly anticipating the campaign's fall launch," said MacDiarmid.

Amit Sofer, of the diamond and jewelry manufacturing firm Beny Sofer, also expressed a high level of appreciation for the manner in which this new campaign seems to be capturing the industry's attention.

As Sofer noted, "a lot [of retailers] are readily looking to stock the pendants associated with this new campaign. The "S-type", or curves/vine style pendant, and the circles seem to be getting the most interest from our retailers. Demand is strong. They're excited, and we are too."

DPS spokesperson Jennifer Fulmer said “retailers are excited that Journey's new product concept has the potential to supersede our Past, Present, Future campaign. We're seeing good response from both retailers and manufacturers and, here at JA, we're not only getting a lot of interest in Journey, we're getting a lot of good insight from visiting retailers."