On 30 October 2025, Zen Diamond announced Jennifer Lopez as its global brand ambassador. For a jewellery brand founded in Turkey with operations across 22 countries, the move was less about celebrity gloss and more about solving a strategic marketing equation: how to scale trust, aspiration and recall simultaneously as the business accelerates retail expansion, particularly in India.
The partnership traces its origins to August 2025, when Lopez was touring Europe and Asia with her Jennifer Lopez Up All Night concerts. During that period, she was introduced to Zen Diamond. What began as an informal interaction evolved into a structured collaboration, culminating in a global ambassadorial role.
The resulting campaign was shot in Los Angeles by photographer Norman Jean Roy. The visuals leaned into silhouettes, light and reflection—codes familiar to luxury advertising—while positioning Lopez less as a character and more as a recognisable presence anchoring the brand’s global intent.
Founded in 2000, Zen Diamond’s lineage stretches back to 1890, with the company investing heavily in manufacturing infrastructure and production scale. But as Zen Diamond India’s managing director Neil Sonawala notes, scale alone does not solve for modern consumer behaviour.
“India is a core growth market,” he told Campaign, pointing to the company’s ambition to open 100 stores in five years. “Our expansion strategy is built on a disciplined, analytics-led demand model.”
Zen Diamond entered India in 2024 with a flagship store in Bandra, Mumbai. It followed with Borivali, then expanded to Bengaluru’s Phoenix Mall of Asia and Phoenix Marketcity, and most recently Chandigarh’s Elante Mall. According to Sonawala, store-level breakeven across tier 1 and high-growth tier 2 markets is expected within 18–24 months.
“The Jennifer Lopez campaign has been a catalytic asset in this equation,” he says. “Her association has demonstrably lifted brand discovery, first-time trials, and ticket-size aspirations, contributing to 12–15% incremental footfall in priority markets.”
Campaign architecture over celebrity splash
Rather than leading with the celebrity reveal, Zen Diamond structured the launch as a four-phase campaign. Phase one opened with a 10-second teaser built around light, reflections and silhouettes, deliberately withholding Lopez’s identity. The intent was to provoke curiosity and online conversation ahead of a global announcement.
The second phase confirmed the collaboration, supported by PR amplification and digital news features distributed through Instagram Stories. Phase three introduced a short countdown film, maintaining momentum ahead of the main reveal.
The final phase delivered a 45-second brand film featuring Lopez, shared on her official Instagram account in collaboration with Zen Diamond India. Lopez also posted Stories and created a dedicated Zen highlight, extending reach to her global following.
The film was further amplified through collaborations with premium malls housing Zen Diamond stores, alongside paparazzi outreach aimed at generating organic visibility. The outcome: 30,41,862 total impressions and 85,209 engagements.
For Sonawala, these numbers are only meaningful insofar as they correlate with commercial behaviour. “Our internal dashboards show a clear correlation between campaign bursts and uplift in both discovery and intent metrics,” he says. Zen Diamond has recorded higher qualified store walk-ins during campaign windows, alongside an increase in product enquiries and CRM sign-ups.
Looking ahead, the next phases are expected to deliver a 12–15% lift in store visits, a 10% increase in CRM captures and a high single-digit uplift in conversion efficiency. “The objective is to ensure that each successive phase compounds brand equity while delivering tangible revenue outcomes,” Sonawala adds.
Earned media as a long game
Industry analysis often suggests that earned media can account for nearly 78% of partnership value. Zen Diamond’s strategy in India reflects that assumption.
“Our approach is not a one-off publicity spike but a long-horizon, always-on communications engine,” says Sonawala. The company plans a steady cadence of design-led storytelling, craftsmanship narratives and cultural alignments, supported by deeper engagement with lifestyle, luxury and business editors.
The idea is to create what Sonawala describes as a “compounding earned-media flywheel”—one that sustains relevance well beyond the initial announcement cycle.
The timing of the Lopez collaboration also intersects with a broader shift in India’s jewellery market. Lab-grown diamonds are gaining traction among urban consumers under 35, driven by lower price points and aggressive digital marketing.
Sonawala sees a bifurcation rather than a wholesale shift. “One segment gravitates toward lab-grown diamonds for price accessibility and trend-driven appeal, while a larger, increasingly discerning cohort is gravitating back to natural diamonds for their enduring value, heritage, and emotional depth,” he says.
Zen Diamond’s response has been to recalibrate entry-level pricing for natural diamonds, elevate storytelling around legacy and craftsmanship, and rebalance merchandising between everyday wear and aspirational hero pieces. At the store level, sales teams are trained to frame natural diamonds as long-term assets rather than transactional purchases.
Celebrity endorsements are notorious for peaking early. Zen Diamond appears conscious of that risk.
“Celebrity associations serve as meaningful catalysts, but Zen Diamond’s long-term brand equity is intentionally built on a broader, more resilient foundation,” says Sonawala.
Once the Lopez partnership runs its course, the company plans to rely on a high-frequency content ecosystem spanning digital, retail and experiential touchpoints, supported by influencers and seasonal retail narratives.
There is no immediate confirmation of additional ambassadors, Indian or otherwise, but Sonawala frames the approach as diversified by design rather than personality-led.
A global lens, locally tuned
From Zen Diamond’s global headquarters, chairman of the board Emil Güzeliş views the Lopez partnership through the lens of trust at scale. “Trust is paramount in diamonds,” he says. “Jennifer Lopez is not only admired worldwide, but also widely trusted.”
Zen Diamond currently operates 54 stores across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with plans to double that footprint within 18 months. Güzeliş believes Lopez’s endorsement will support this expansion, particularly in markets where brand validation precedes purchase intent.
Importantly, Zen Diamond does not view the campaign as a one-size-fits-all execution. “We do not treat the Jennifer Lopez collaboration as a ‘one message everywhere’ approach, but as a flexible framework adapted to different regions,” he says.
In non-Western markets, Güzeliş notes, purchasing decisions are often driven by social approval rather than individual signalling. A globally recognised face provides reassurance, making the brand a “validated and safe choice”.
Measuring return, not just reach
For all its visibility, Zen Diamond is clear-eyed about how it will evaluate success. Güzeliş outlines four benchmarks: increase in brand awareness, shifts in brand perception around trust and desirability, movement within the consideration set at the point of purchase, and revenue performance over a 12-month horizon.
“We view this partnership not solely through visibility, but as an investment in which brand strength and commercial performance advance together,” he says.
As Zen Diamond rolls out post-launch initiatives—Spotify audio spots, high-impact outdoor installations in Mumbai, influencer collaborations, reinterpretations of Lopez’s music and live a cappella performances—the campaign increasingly resembles a marketing system rather than a celebrity endorsement.
In a market crowded with short-lived celebrity tie-ups, the differentiator is no longer the star power itself, but how rigorously it is integrated into demand modelling, retail analytics and long-term brand architecture. Zen Diamond’s partnership with Jennifer Lopez may glitter on the surface, but its real test lies in whether the shine holds once the spotlight moves on.
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