AuDITIONS India Press Conference Speech

Brand and Communications Manager,
AngloGold Ashanti Limited

Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming. Today is an exciting day for AngloGold Ashanti and for me personally. To be launching our gold jewellery design competition in the world’s greatest gold market is both a thrill and an honour. AngloGold Ashanti is the world’s second-largest gold company but we are undisputed mining leaders in the marketing of gold. Unlike many of our peers in the industry, we are committed to gold as an end-product, not just to the process that produces it. Much of our marketing work is done with the World Gold Council, of which we are the most active member and contributors of some 25% of funding. We and the WGC have enjoyed a very productive relationship for years and together we now launch the Indian edition of AngloGold Ashanti AuDITIONS.

This year, we at AngloGold Ashanti created the AuDITIONS brand to house our gold jewellery design competitions. The dream is to make AngloGold Ashanti AuDITIONS the Oscars of gold jewellery design.

Why did we name our brand AuDITIONS? As I’m sure you’re aware, Au is the chemical symbol for gold, and thus AuDITIONS is exactly what the name implies – an audition in gold, with the jewellery designers auditioning through their pieces. The designer is raised to the level of a performer in gold. The competitions are about creativity and glamour, with design talent taking centre stage.

Next year is going to be a bumper year for us, with AngloGold Ashanti AuDITIONS events taking place in South Africa , India and Brazil . That’s three countries on three continents - all of them promising, developing economies. And all of them speak the common and ancient language of gold. AngloGold Ashanti AuDITIONS is a growing global platform, and we hope that the Indian collection will also get a chance to shine in other countries.

No-one would dispute that out of South Africa, Brazil and India, India ’s is the economy most promising in terms of global impact. We are all familiar with the notion of a sleeping giant. India is now a waking giant - a giant rising up to his full height to take on the world. When you combine the skill and pride of your labour force with an immense pool of human capital, India presents an almost unassailable proposition in the global economy.

But what of the gold industry in India ? Things could not be going much better than now. The WGC and GFMS tell us that the second quarter of this year saw the highest ever gold demand in India, in both Rupee and tonnage terms. The half year growth rate stands at a truly impressive 59%. This growth is due in large part to the creative and tireless efforts of Sanjeev Agarwal and his WGC India team. It’s important to remember that the wonderful figures India is enjoying now are the result of years of work on the market. Now is not the time to take our foot off the pedal. Indeed we should now be ramming the peddle straight through the floor board of our golden Ferrari.

India is blessed to be such a monumental gold market, but the market as a whole is overly insular. The world over, gold jewellery is under constant threat from global brands. With India ’s economy growing at some 7% per year, and an exploding middle class, the brand-driven consumer with money to spend is becoming ever more powerful. But will this consumer be buying gold jewellery?

Or will she be buying holidays, luxury handbags or high-end electronics?

We share the World Gold Council’s conviction that without building modern gold brands, gold jewellery will continue to lose traction with younger consumers. And this is where design comes in. Without fashionable, current design, no jewellery brand can ever be truly aspirational to an increasingly style-conscious consumer. And this is a central strategic driver in the AuDITIONS process in India – to drive design trends forward.

This year’s theme is Ethno Contemporary, and as such it will be a bridging theme that seeks to reinvent timeless Indian motifs into a contemporary framework. Sabyasachi, our style and design ambassador has built a glowing career on doing just this, and we are ecstatic to have him on our team. Ultimately we hope that the theme will not only inspire designers, but excite consumers too, who will then begin to demand more contemporary design from their family jewellers.

The absolute imperative is clear: build brands and push the boundaries of design. We believe that AngloGold Ashanti AuDITIONS can help in terms of the design imperative. In so doing, we hope to help safeguard gold’s position of power in this market where it seems to shine a lot brighter than anywhere else.

 

Thank you.