[Adver Times 掲載コラム] Part 2: How to Create 'Value' Going Forward — Lessons from Launching a D2C Brand

Hello

Continuing from last month, I contributed another column to Adver Times (Adotai), the advertising industry’s news & information platform operated by Sendenkaigi.

The second round is in February.

I spoke about "what value should be" and "what we did to maximize value".

We'd love to hear your feedback! ♪

Introduction of articles published in Adver Times (Ad-tai)

 

In the first installment of this series, I discussed what prompted me to start selling products on Instagram, how to get started, and how to design a concept.

In the series, I said that "jewelry is well suited to social media."Indeed, our original "bridal accessory specialty brand" was able to grow its business as a D2C brand that originated on Instagram.

As my next challenge, five years ago I launched a jewelry brand in Japan using the lab-created gemstone "moissanite," which was still relatively unknown there. I'm currently experimenting to see how much of the value of the stone "moissanite"—not just the appeal of the designs—I can convey through an online business.

In Japan, where awareness of moissanite is still low, how do we differentiate ourselves from other moissanite jewelry and build a brand? At first we experienced many failures. In this second installment, including my ongoing efforts, I want to write about "what value ought to be" and "what I did to maximize value."

"Do we even need a brand name like 'It's valuable because you're selling it'?"

As a pioneer in moissanite jewelry for five years, I’ve connected with many people and been able to create with genuine enthusiasm. The reason I can maintain that enthusiasm is simple: 【moissanite is a wonderfully romantic stone】.

To begin with, I think many people fall into one of two groups: "What is moissanite? I've never even heard the name," or "I've heard the name, but don't know the details."

Moissanite is a lab-created synthetic gemstone. There are many types of lab-made sparkling stones. You may recognize some names, such as cubic zirconia, Swarovski, and lab-grown diamonds.

Each synthetic stone has its own characteristics, but the moissanite I handle is a space-born stone that was discovered as a mineral in a meteorite that fell in Arizona, USA, about 50,000 years ago. It was discovered by French scientist Henri Moissan and named moissanite after him. About 100 years after its discovery, an American research team synthesized moissanite.

Moissanite is well known in the U.S. and Europe, and has long been popular as an engagement-ring gemstone, having established that position. However, when I started the business five years ago, it was hardly known in Japan. When I say "moissanite is wonderful" and "a romantic, beautiful stone," it's because, beyond its price, reliable supply, and ethical qualities, it has a story other synthetic stones don't: that it "came from space."

When I first learned of their existence, I was so moved — "I had no idea such a wonderful stone existed…" — that I immediately ordered stones from factories around the world. Each was sold by its maker with the claim "highest quality," but unfortunately some were junk, toy-like, or like garbage, and many that looked beautiful at first glance had strong fire (reflections) or appeared cloudy. Because these are made by people, I, as a consumer, was surprised to learn that manufacturing processes and technical skill can make a world of difference. After considerable time I arrived at a wonderful moissanite that I can call the culmination of technical expertise, and I pride myself on being the only person in Japan to have compared so many moissanites.

We started by sourcing stones from around the world and turning them into jewelry to sell, but when the stones themselves had no recognition at all, we inevitably had to explain them by “comparing them to diamonds.” Confident in our stones, we launched with the tagline, “Wait — isn’t this a diamond?” Sales grew steadily, but one day we began getting a string of strange inquiries from customers asking, “Is this Aya’s account?” Coincidentally, at that time I had just refreshed the logo design for my brand "RADIANN" to elevate its standing as a jewelry label and completed the trademark registration.

After listening carefully to our customers, we discovered that a shop with a very similar name — just one character added to "Moissanite Jewelry Radian" — had appeared using a logo similar to our old logo and had begun selling moissanite. Even more shocking, they demanded that we withdraw our trademark registration, despite the fact that we had started the business earlier.

Read more in the column

Article published in Adver Times (Ad-tai)Click here

 

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