This story was originally part of the 2023 Glossy 50 feature. Click here to see all of this year’s honorees.
Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson joined 40-year-old jewelry brand Pandora as CMO in August 2022. She immediately faced the challenge of devising a marketing campaign for Pandora’s biggest project of the year: a full launch into the diamond category.
On top of that, Pandora exclusively sells lab-grown diamonds, forcing Gasco-Buisson to go up against legacy diamond companies which have invested big money in painting lab-grown diamonds as inferior to natural diamonds. De Beers reportedly spent an additional $20 million in marketing last year to discredit lab-grown diamonds. Meanwhile, the Natural Diamond Council, a group made up of legacy jewelers like De Beers and Petra Diamonds, has been running a years-long campaign called “Only Natural Diamonds” with big-name celebrities like Lily James and Ana de Armas.
“One of the key jobs to be done is communicating the value of lab-grown diamonds,” Gasco-Buisson said. “They’ve been used in industrial settings for years, but in jewelry, it’s still relatively new. It takes time for awareness to build, but the perception is shifting, for sure.”
For Pandora’s lab-grown diamond launch earlier this year, Gasco-Buisson and her team put together a marketing campaign called “Diamonds For All.” The campaign included celebrities like “Emily in Paris” star Ashley Park, model Precious Lee and actress Pamela Anderson. The goal is to grow lab-grown diamond jewelry to a $140 million business by 2026.
“We’re trying to change the perception of the brand from one known for charm bracelets to a full jewelry brand, and our diamond strategy is part of that,” Gasco-Buisson said. “Every serious jewelry company plays in diamonds, and we made the strong, specific choice to only do lab-grown because of our commitment to democratizing jewelry and the sustainability aspect of it.”
The global lab-grown diamond market was valued at $22.45 billion in 2022. Estimates place future growth at $37.32 billion by 2028, or 10% of the global diamond market. Pandora has continued to see growth around the world, including in the U.S. and China where luxury and jewelry sales have been struggling. Its most recent quarterly earnings saw sales grow to $864 million, with no slowdown in the U.S.
While Pandora has an iconic product line in its charm bracelets, Gasco-Buisson said her next goal for the brand is to create and market a new, iconic product in the diamond space.
“You’ll see it in our diamonds campaign and in our upcoming holiday campaign — we’re focused on elevating the perception of the brand,” Gasco-Buisson said.
