Shining a light into the market with Platinum Guild International

The company wins at China International Business Awards 2022.

Young Chinese consumers’ discretionary spending preference for digital products, luxury fashion, and entertainment is posing a significant challenge for jewellery retailers. In response, Platinum Guild International® (PGI®) initiated Project Reboot, a campaign that aims to capture more younger consumers into their market share, winning the Non-Profit Organisation Award at the China International Business Awards 2022.

The awards programme recognises companies and their efforts and innovations to bring success to their operations, and PGI® distinguished themselves with Project Reboot, which managed to bring younger consumers into the fold of platinum jewellery.

Precious jewellery in China made from gold, platinum, silver, and precious stones saw a negative CAGR of 6.3% from 2017 to 2019.  As a minor category with just an 18% share of acquisition, jewellery retailers rarely refresh their platinum inventory which results in younger consumers needing help finding a design that they like. Department stores are another business struggling for traction with young consumers who prefer speciality stores. 

As platinum, jewellery retailers and department stores were facing the same struggle to attract young consumers, PGI® China launched Project Reboot in 2019 to enable all three parties to reboot their appeal to this critical consumer segment as well as establish platinum’s priority amongst jewellery retailers for PGI®.

Project Reboot’s innovation and foundation of success were having each party focus on one part of the consumer journey under one single promotion platform to deliver specific results to each. To attract young consumers, PGI® created a promotion platform based on the theme of Pt Art Space, which celebrates the tenacity of young up-and-coming artists by promoting their work through digital and social media, which PGI® was responsible for media buy, content development, PR and event management. 

The physical Pt Art Space took the form of a pop-up art gallery event and art installations at participating department stores. Pt Art Space also showcased the latest platinum jewellery and has various interactive activities for participants to win promotional vouchers for platinum jewellery. The department store contributed event space, mall media, and access to its social media and loyalty programme members to drive footfall to jewellery retail stores. Retail stores did their part by refreshing their platinum jewellery inventory through a stock swap program with selected PGI® manufacturing partners, funding the sales promotion, and supplementing media coverage. 

Project Reboot adopted tactical tweaks since 2019 to capture more opportunities which have resulted in 1,179 doors from 59 jewellery retailers across 3 provinces and 49 cities participating in the event in its third edition in 2021. Project Reboot is still going strong in 2022, with the organisation having high hopes that it will contribute towards stimulating the local economy amidst COVID-19 challenges

The China International Business Awards is presented by Asian Business Review Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2023 awards programme and be acclaimed for your outstanding contributions in your organisation's growth, please contact Jane Patiag at [email protected].