Pandora s PR Master Stroke May 06, 21 by John Jeffay
Last week I wrote about Diamond Foundry ramping up its production of lab-grown diamonds. A
nd I mentioned new research highlighting increased consumer awareness of lab-growns. I thought that was enough on lab-growns for the time being a
nd set my sights elsewhere for this week s Memo. And then came the Pandora announcement. One of the world s biggest jewelers (26,000 employees, 7,000 outlets, Q1 2021 revenue $726m) said it was ditching mined diamonds and would only use lab-growns. This was big news, far beyond the diamond community. It was the second item on the BBC radio news, with CEO Alexander Lacik making low-carbon promises. It was headlines in every newspaper. It was as though McDonald s had announced it would no longer sell burgers, Apple had decided there was no longer sufficient demand for iPhones, and Coca-Cola had called time on the soft drinks market.