Answer: A bride not demanding a flash gold wedding ring, or a young girl not coveting a gold chain.
What! No winners. Didn’t any of you get that one right.
Well, think about it. Bank selling has a finite life span. They can only sell what they’ve got, and many people in the industry say the sooner the awful process is over, the better.
Women not wanting gold is far more permanent - and potentially far nastier.
If women lose the gold-buying habit (oops, that should read if women stop asking men to buy them gold) it will be a bit like the sun not rising. One of mankind’s most deep-seated consumer habits will have come to an end.
What’s that you say, it’ll never happen? Well, think again. There are tell-tale signs emerging in the western (and oriental) world that gold is falling out of fashion.
No-one in the mining industry is talking too loudly, yet. But, events reaching Dryblower’ eyes and ears have made him sit up very sharply.
First nasty surprise was the discovery of a super-confidential report into gold-buying habits in Europe and North America. Dryblower’ copy of the document fell off a truck in London.
Then came the discovery in Cape Town of a fascinating new investment by the world’s biggest goldminer, AngloGold, in a jewellery-making business called OroAfrica.
At first blush, the events seem unconnected. In truth, they are one and the same. The ultra-sensitive survey, commissioned by the merchant bank, Credit Suisse First Boston (and paid for by the gold industry), shows that people under 34 consider gold to be the stuff that old people wear.
Given a choice, young people (the market of tomorrow) prefer diamonds, mobile phones and long holidays. In Japan, it’s even worse. In direct head-to-head competition the smart young set in the Ginza go for platinum in preference to gold.
AngloGold, which has several copies of the CSFB report under lock and key (and probably paid for the survey in the first place), has bought 25% in OroAfrica as a first step towards addressing the “gold is old” message in the survey.
The Cape Town business, long established as South Africa’s biggest gold jewellery maker, is being re-shaped to do something never before attempted in the world of gold.
OroAfrica will attempt to develop the world’s first “gold brand”
Much remains to be done. The team at OroAfrica have not yet decided on a name, target market (probably a mix of America, Europe and China), the first products, or a launch date.
What is known is that the exercise will be big, and the brand will be created in a similar way to how a clothing brand (for example Gap, Benetton, Adidas) is created, and the products will be targeted at the youth market with the aim being to make gold a trendy fashion item.
Considered carefully and the OroAfrica experiment is bold stuff.
Until now, the gold industry has been a price taker. Arguably the only successful example in the past 50 years of creating demand for gold came with the creation of the gold coin market via South Africa’s Krugerrand coins, and copied by the Maple Leaf, Nugget and Eagle coins.
AngloGold wants to do something similar with OroAfrica. It wants a branded product which is desirable as a gift and a body-adornment for the young.
As one OroAfrica executive told Dryblower “if they can brand water, we can brand gold”
His comment refers to the success of products such as Perrier and Evian water. If it can be done with H2O, then why not Au?
Cynics will say what a nonsense. Dryblower is far more optimistic. He knows that many of the most successful businesses in the world today are brands. Coca Cola is nothing but caffeine flavoured sugar water. The Gap is nothing but comfortable shirts.
Why not a range of gold products which carry the same values of quality, class and desirability.
True believers in the gold industry should start watching OroAfrica very carefully, it could be their future at work.
