The concept of a diamond engagement ring, the glowing solitaire proudly displayed for friends and family to gasp over, is a relatively new one, in jewellery terms.
In fact, it’s probably one of the most successful marketing stories of all time. Positively genius, we say would say.
A diamond is not a rare gemstone. The intrinsic value of a diamond doesn’t increase in time (unless it’s a super-rare carat weight or colour) Diamonds are not rare, they’ve not been rare gemstones since 1870, when vast diamond mines were discovered in South Africa.
It was however this very discovery that led to the decision to plant the concept of the emotional value of diamonds in the public conscious, encouraging us to overlook the financial one.
The money-men behind the diamond mining operations in South Africa needed to make two things happen.
First, they needed to control the flow of diamonds into the world markets, to maintain their financial value as a trade-able commodity. They did this by taking ownership and control of the world diamond trade, establishing De Beers Consolidated. They stockpiled and strategically managed the flow of diamonds around the world – the perfect example of utilising the old ‘supply and demand’ model.
However, to make this really work, they needed to both control supply and engineer demand for their product.
During this period the world was entering into a period of huge upheaval and war, significantly denting the demand for diamonds, especially in Europe. As a result of the European crises, it was decided to focus on the American market and in 1938 De Beers appointed Philadelphia based advertising agency N W Ayer & Son. Remember, this is all pre-Mad Men era, when advertising was still at a very basic standard. What happened next was the start of something very clever indeed.
The agency knew that they needed make a diamond’s value something apart from its financial worth – and the emotional pull of love and marriage was where they aimed their energies. They started by using celebrities in the media. They released stories to the press celebrity proposals with diamond rings and had fashion designers talk about the new diamond trend on radio shows. Dorothy Dignam, a publicist for De Beers at N.W. Ayer, said: “The big ones sell the little ones,” and they spent a lot of time detailing the size and cut of these ‘celebrity diamonds’ (some things don’t change!)
They built an entire story around the diamond itself, with no actual brand to connect it to. It was all about the product, not at all about going to a specific place to buy this product.
In only four years diamond sales in America went up by 55%.
However, their masterstroke came in 1948, when they came up with what has to be the best slogan of all time: ‘A diamond is forever.’
This slogan crystallised the whole aim of De Beer’s marketing: a diamond – like your marriage – is forever. Not only would this encourage engagement ring purchases, but make sure nobody then sold their diamonds and disrupt their monopoly!
Like we said: genius.