The Natural Stone Council (NSC), a collaborative organisation representing the stone industry's business and trade associations including

Marble Institute of America (MIA), introduced sometime back a branding campaign and Genuine StoneTM logo. This was to differentiate natural stone products from competitors and to promote the value and unique benefits of natural stone. To further its efforts in this direction NSC recently announced the launch of their new branding programme.

The multi-faceted programme, created in partnership with McKee Wallwork  Cleveland, an Albuquerque–based advertising agency, is comprised of a newly designed "Genuine Stone" logo inspired by ancient coins, the development of an NSC website to centralise and disseminate the best information on natural stone that the industry has to offer, and three eye catching print advertisements suggesting that natural stone is "As genuine as you".

According to Mark Fernandes, president of the NSC, the new initiative is directed towards positioning natural stone as the premier product in the category of quality construction materials. This will generate an awareness among builders and consumers that natural stones such as marble, granite, limestone and travertine are superior to competitive products on all counts.