Our guest blogger Ya’akov Almor, serves as joint communications director for CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation.

Now, most women who have male partners (Since I am Dutch-born and bred, I studied at the University of Amsterdam and the eight years of enjoying a rich social life in that great city taught me never-ever to presume anything about relationships…) know that they sometimes, unintentionally and absentmindedly, leaf through their partner’s magazines – ELLE, Cosmo, Marie-Claire, Vogue, etc. – except when they are at a dentist of doctor’s office, when they may even read an article or two.

Last week I had the pleasure of the company of my wife on my trip to Idar-Oberstein, Germany, to attend and speak at the Intergem Show (I intend to write my next blog about that very small, but highly interesting trade fair www.intergem-messe.de).

Once through the airport’s check-in and customs, my wife scanned the 10 feet or so of magazine racks at the departure terminal’s bookstore and picked up the October issue of “O”.

“O” stands for Oprah. Oprah Winfrey. Probably the USA’s most famous black woman – though I like Queen Latifa, my favorite female actor, better.

If you did not know it – Oprah is a marketing genius. She has a talk show that even I, a member of the male species, have watched for more than 10 minutes, and publishes a magazine that is absolutely readable – even for men.

Still, I cannot help myself and after reading a bit, I decided to run a count – to see how many jewelry ads the magazine runs. And here’s the bad news. After going through all of the 310 pages, I could not but conclude that advertising has become too expensive for jewelry companies! Apparently, only the Diamond Promotion Service, Graff Diamonds and Tiffany’s were able to afford to buy an ad with Oprah. L’Oreal had no problem pasting four consecutive pages in the front section of the magazine, and other cosmetics firms such as Chanel, Clinique, Lancôme and Olay, to name just a few, also claimed prime position, multiple pages of advertising space. Throughout the magazine many other ads covered shoes, bags, fashion, health foods.

The theme of this particular issue of “O” was “Getting Good at Love, how to find it, risk it, let it go, make it grow, live it every day.” Brilliant!

But where were the “brilliant” ads? Where were the luxury firms that carry the big jewelry brands?

While we hear a lot of grim economic news, luxury retailers have not been doing too badly. For example, LVMH reported strong sales gains in the first nine months of 2008, including 9 percent growth in jewelry revenue. Yes, there was an LVMH ad, too. But specific ads for jewelry were lacking.

Since the beginning of this year, the International Herald Tribune has published a number of issues of its prestigious “T” magazine, which celebrates “the global world of fashion, design, living and travel.” IHT distributes this magazine free with the newspaper, meaning that they have printed and distributed millions of each issue.

In the last two issues for Fall 2008, “Women’s Fashion” and “Men’s Fashion” jewelry also performs poorly, in my view. Admittedly, Graff was there, as was Moussaieff and Mauboussin, but otherwise it was fashion, lots of bags and some of the high-end watch companies.

Clearly, jewelry is competing with lots of other luxury products in the market and with the economy going south, the competition for the consumer’s discretionary dollar will only rise.

So here is the question: Will jewelry lose out in this game?

What will jewelry companies do to keep the attention of the consumer – of the self-purchasing, independent woman?

I do not have the answer but hope the industry at large will address this issue, especially in these interesting, but trying times.