Friday, 7th January 2005 (4282 views)

The World Gold Council, an industry body funded by mining groups accounting for about 35 per cent of global gold output, has launched a new advertising campaign for gold jewellery.

However instead of turning to the glossy fashion magazines, it has used the more sedate photographers from National Geographic in a bid to show that ordinary people have a connection with gold.

With international gold jewellery sales lower last year than a decade earlier, and consumers spending more of their disposable income on other luxury goods or on electronic gadgets and holidays, there are fears that the metal has an image problem among consumers.

Gold has also lost its appeal to couples tying the knot in western Europe, North America and China, who have shown a growing preference in the past decade for platinum rings.

Kelvin Williams, executive director for marketing at AngloGold Ashanti, says the metal's image has also suffered from the lack of good new jewellery designs. Additionally, the experience of buying gold is not very satisfactory.

"Many of the traditional gold stores are pre-modern; they have not changed their retail concept for 50 to 60 years," he said.

It is hoped the new advertising campaign will go some way to solving this problem.

 

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