August 2021 | Lab Grown Magazine

August 2021 | The Lab Grown Diamond Resource Book 26 To advertise call (888) 832-1109 | August 2021 27 with spokesperson options. Just as Pandora broke the creative director mold by hiring two people, they also employ two spokespeople: one for silent photo shoots (plus-size model Ashley Graham) and one to speak on camera (a familiar actress in the UK initial market, Rosario Dawson. Rumors continue over why the double hire. All the Right Places It’s in Pandora’s best interest to keep natural diamond demand high while testing a couple dozen LGD fashion styles set in sterling and 14-karat gold.The brand is doing so with a tightly monitored and limited distribution (even online). The only place to purchase Brilliance presently is in the UK.The second largest market in the world is also where Pandora commissioned its exclusive diamonds to be grown by one company and cut by another. You also won’t see Pandora Brilliance promotions parading around with a zero-carbon footprint flag, although a Carbon Neutral emblem is constantly referenced in the wings while Pandora’s fresh faces take center stage. The company knows it’s working towards a carbon neutral sign-off, even if it’s far from it. Regardless, it won the Carbon Neutral insignia—actually, they paid for it, just as Diamond Foundry did. Probably, Pandora got a good deal on the price since the creators of Carbon Neutral are their own bankers. The Ethics Card So, how is Pandora competing against the two largest LGD market makers, Lightbox and Swarovski? It’s not about beating them on price or being “greener” by means of reduced energy waste or less greenhouse gas emissions by measurement. Francesco Terzo (left) and Filippo Ficarelli, Pandora’s new and youngest Creative Director Duo are credited for the Brilliance hallmark, a ”reimag- ined” infin- ity symbol. Measuring means being precise and validating such with third-party proof. That’s in the works with Carbon Neutral. For now, Pandora went broad and played an emotional ethics card. Leaning on ethics is a highly emotional and proven marketing approach. It wins hands down since we are all hard-wired to be morally correct. Given the choice of exploding large areas of Earth or not seems like an easy ethical decision without analyzing a single number. Pandora may rely on visuals of a disheveled planet, but we don’t have to. And we think you’ll agree that what we discovered is ground-breaking. Feared Facts? Before we reveal the carbon comparison stats, remember that the Natural Diamond Council’s (NDC) predecessor, the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) attempted to call out LGD producers by using the Federal government’s National Advertising Division (NAD) declaration that LGDs have “three times the carbon footprint as mined stones” while marketing themselves as being good for Earth. The DPA/NDC claimwas based on a study from Trucost ESG in 2019 that went nowhere. NAD found the Trucost report at fault for not surveying 85% of the industry as required to have a case; the report fell short by 10%. Trucost/DPA/NDC also failed to acknowledge that a few rare LGD manufacturers had proven that they use renewable energy and two LGD companies were validated to have a zero-carbon footprint. Why didn’t the NDC reinvest in the already costly study to prove their point? Our research may reveal the answer. Who’s Got the Smallest Carbon Footprint? Try and locate a creditable environmental impact analysis comparing mined to man-made diamonds and you’ll be hard pressed to find anything. This includes expensive reports that do little more than speak around such data. While the numbers we found date back to 2014, the study was created by Frost & Sullivan, an analytic firm held in high regard. The report continues to be supported, albeit quietly, by the Better Diamond Initiative (BDI). [I would like to give special thanks to Vyom Shah, who formerly ran BDI, for his help with this article.] What do the eco-numbers show us? From water usage to carbon emissions, growing diamonds in a lab wins over mining operations from a lower (or less harmful) environmental impact perspective. The chart offers a benchmarked line-by-line means of impact caused by mined and LGDs.The study >>