The Natural Diamond Council has relaunched as The Diamond Collective, with a new global strategy to reignite desire for natural diamonds and unite the industry behind long-term category growth.

Key initiatives include global programmes and culturally relevant campaigns; a legally protected Trustmark to enable consumers to recognise and trust natural diamonds, which will pilot with leading retailers before broader rollout; clearer terminology, stronger regulation and meaningful enforcement across the US, EU, France and India to protect the integrity of natural diamonds; investment in AI and digital discovery; renewed retailer and brand partnerships; relationships with the fashion world, with the first partnership launching next year; a scaled World Diamond Day; evidence-led responses to misinformation; and collaborations with world-leading creatives across art, design, fashion and culture to reinterpret diamonds.

CEO Amber Pepper said six months of consultation with producers, retailers, brands, creatives and consumers revealed the organisation’s foremost objective: Create desire for natural diamonds and turn this into demand.

“That means connecting diamonds more powerfully to culture, protecting trust and integrity, bringing the industry together and investing in work that drives category growth and sales,” she explained.

The strategy centres on three pillars: Unite brings together stakeholders around shared growth priorities. Protect strengthens consumer confidence through clarity and transparency, challenges misinformation and differentiates natural diamonds from synthetics. Inspire creates desire through culture, creativity, and globally connected storytelling, with a clear path to consideration and purchase.

"This represents a decisive shift from defending the category to renewing desire. We will move from individual campaigns to a connected, long-term approach; from representation to collective action; and from measuring activity to measuring desire, demand and commercial impact," Pepper said. "It also means changing how we present ourselves. For too long, we have played defence - allowing the original to be defined by a qualifier, when in truth there is no worthy comparison. Diamonds are the original. They do not need a qualifier."

This means greater industry alignment, stronger producer-nation partnerships by placing them at the centre of the global diamond story, clearer differentiation and protection of the category, and deeper connections to culture and creativity, she continued.

Success will be measured by consumer desire for natural diamonds, alongside market and commercial indicators of demand. A new Diamond Desire Index will track consideration, purchase intent, sentiment and recommendation among Gen Z and millennials across the US, India and China. This baseline, launching in Q4 2026, will provide annual reporting on changes in consumer behaviour and demand.

The Diamond Collective will become the public-facing name in most markets, while Natural Diamond Council remains the legal entity. The organisation will also transform from a solely producer-funded marketing body to an industry-wide effort involving more of the value chain.