Australia’s leading diamond simulant retailer, Secrets, has launched a television, print and radio advertising campaign proclaiming that its products are ‘the new real’.
Announcing the launch of the new campaign, Secrets founding director Jane Meredith says most women today have “simulants” in their jewellery collection and they “feel fabulous wearing an item of beauty and quality, irrespective if whether it is classified as ‘real’”.
“It is time for the product (simulant diamonds and simulant diamond jewellery) to be defined by what it is, rather than what it is not. We’re challenging the social convention that dictates that stones have to fall into one of two categories – ‘real’ or ‘not real’.
“If something exists, of course it is real.”
Meredith said the new campaign’s catchline was ‘Sometimes wanting something beautiful doesn’t need to be justified or explained; how it makes you feel is reason enough’ but the overall message was that the simulants were ‘the new real’.
She said Australian and New Zealand women’s attitudes to diamond simulants have changed significantly since the company opened its first store in Noosa in 2000 with “most women no longer measuring their worth upon the geological origin of their stones”.
“Over the past nine years women have embraced diamond simulants as beautiful possessions that they can cherish forever. And because what they represent to women in terms of creating an equal playing field (no matter who they are, every woman can afford to own diamond simulants) is very real – and how fabulous they make women feel when they wear them is very real – we’ve come to discover that women are embracing them as a new version of ‘real’.
Today the company has grown to 23 franchises across Australia and New Zealand.
According to Meredith, the brand’s ongoing evolution will see further store openings throughout 2010, with the company assessing international expansion options.
“We are embarking on a phase of growth and expansion, introducing new product lines and looking to reach critical mass of 35 to 40 stores in the next two to three years,” she said.
“Rather than prioritising placement of single stores in major capitals such as London and New York and leaving ourselves open to market dilution, we are concentrating on reaching critical mass in each region.”
She said the brand’s target market had grown significantly over the past 5 years to include a very vast group of women.
“They range from 18 years up to 60 years and cover everyone from brides to professional women, ladies who already have large diamond collections through to stay-at-home mums and university students.”
“Diamond simulants’ popularity has soared and social acceptability has meant women now wear them with pride,” she said.