Friday, 28th May 2004 (3003 views)

The chief executive of AngloGold Ashanti has urged the gold industry in South Africa to take a more modern approach.

According to Bobby Godsell more effort is needed to boost the gold retail market since central banks are no longer a key customer for the metal.

Mr Godsell believes that the best way to move forward is effective branding.

"Gold is a good fashion metal…We have got to modernise, retail jewellery stores are a nineteenth century experience," Mr Godsell explained to Business Day.

He referred to the re-marketing of coffee drinking by Starbucks, explaining the market was in decline until the company launched a rebranding strategy.

Mr Godsell believes that gold could easily be marketed as a symbol of love and power but so far this has not happened and a key issue for manufacturers was how gold was accessed and work price risk was managed.

AngloGold Ashanti is looking into the idea of launching its own brand in the US market, but at present it has not revealed what this particular brand might be.

 

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