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 The
Story Behind "A Diamond is Forever"
De Beers launched a multi-million dollar "A Diamond is For Ever"
advertising campaign to rekindle the demand. With N.W. Iyer, its U.S.
advertising agency, it had developed aggressive campaign to promote
sales of diamond anniversary rings and jewelry for men. The campaign
focuses on women as objects of devotion and features full page color
advertisements and television spots. It targets women and focuses on
showing women how to give men diamonds. The campaign gradually reverted
to targeting men and the advertisements took on a more macho look (Read
- Brand Management - Glitter Glitter Everywhere by Jeanne L. McGough,
Madison Avenue Journal, Vol. 26, Issue 11, Oct 1984)
N.W. Iyer has consistently
marketed the diamond engagement ring as a future oriented purpose
and has developed a price guideline for those shopping engagement
rings (Read - Diamonds are an Engaging
Tradition, Jewelers Ring Up Sales to Women by Julia Liesse Erickson
and Bess Gulanis, Advertising Age, Vol. 55, Issue 43, July 1984)
The ultimate luxury good in the status stakes. They also grind out the
tools and precisions parts on which our advanced civilization depends.
Diamonds can add glamour to the most beautiful woman; they also finance
the cruellest of civil wars. Ever since Cecil Rhodes imperial adventures
in the late 19th century, a single company has stealthily extended its
influence on the global market for diamonds until it achieved almost
total control.
The manner in which diamonds were
formed and the values they symbolize are summed up concisely in what
Advertising Age magazine called the greatest advertising slogan of the
20th century. Late one night in 1947 Frances Gerety, a young copywriter
at the N. W. Ayer advertising agency, was working on a presentation for
De Beers but, feeling tired and completely stumped she prayed, "please
God, send me a line." Then, she suddenly scribbled the famous words:
A diamond is forever!
Sustaining Demand
While controlling production and distribution,
De Beers have also made sure that the lure and fascination of diamonds
sustains and even increases every year.
Japanese Courtship according to De Beers
Until the 1960s, in Japan the marriage
ceremony was consummated according to the Shinto law - by the bride and
groom both drinking rice wine from the same wooden bowl. There was no
tradition of a diamond engagement ring. in 1967, halfway around the
world, a South African diamond company decided to change the Japanese
courtship ritual. It retained J. Walter Thompson, the largest
advertising agency in the world to embark on a campaign to popularize
diamond engagement rings in Japan. Though it was a difficult task, the
campaign was remarkably successful and the diamond engagement rings sale
rose by 27% by 1972. In the late 1960s, less than 7% of Japanese women
had received a diamond engagement ring. Twenty years later, almost 75%
of Japanese women now have diamond rings on their fingers. Japan
accounts for 30% of the worldwide diamond sales is said to be 2.5 times
the sales in the U.S. (Read - Japan adds Luster to World Diamond Market
by Neil Berkman, Tokyo Business Today, August 1989). The advertising
campaign in Japan in the '60s sent a message that diamonds represent a
sharp break with the Oriental past and entry point into modern life.
Creating Artificial Scarcity
It is ironic that during the lifetime of Sir Ernest
Oppenheimer, De Beers never discovered a diamond mine itself. Oppenheimers saw
little point to investing profits in exploring for diamonds...
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De Beers' Competition
De Beers has left no avenues to control, stop, take over, make friends with or
bulldoze its competitors when necessary. In 1971, it crushed Sammy Collin's
Marine Diamond....
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How did De Beers Do it?
De Beers was phenomenally successfully in crushing its competitors with the
strengths it built over 100 years through financial and relationship powers and
the business acumen that came from...
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Diamonds from New Sources
The Oppenheimers using all colonial connections of the British Empire, succeeded
in weaving all the later discoveries in Africa, the colonial administrators in
Angola, the Congo, Sierra Leone......
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Smuggling from other African Mines
The smuggling routes lead from the diamond mines and diggings in
Southern and Western Africa to entry spots such as Monroevia,
Brazzaville, Burundi and Beirut. The Belgian and other European markets
are often flooded with smuggled diamonds. The native sorters at....
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What is Sight Holders?
In its distribution process, De Beers have commanded
absolute authority. 10 times a year, De Beers sells
boxes of rough diamonds to 160 select international
dealers and manufacturers in market rituals as sights in
London, although smaller sights are simultaneously held
in...
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The Name of the Game
For major diamond dealers, the objective is to
increase allocation of diamonds that they receive in their shoebox at each night
(Read - The Rise and Fall of Diamonds, The Shuttering of a
Brilliant Illusion by Edward Jay Epstein). It is , as one dealer put it -
"the Name of the Game"...
Read more..
Maintaining the Value of Diamonds
The multi-billion dollar business of diamonds revolves
around the attractive pebble that has a less intrinsic
value per carat. The higher value is an artificial one
and is attributable to the strong hand of De Beers. The
sights in London are not merely occasions for major
gem...
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Tell me about the Name De Beers
De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. is a business organization that has been
controlling the diamond trade world wide for the last century. Many
people tried to compete such Harry Winston for New York and the Argyle
Diamond Company of Australia ...
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The Birth of De Beers Company
in Early
1871, a diamond was found on a small hill, a mile away
from the farm house owned by De Beer brothers (whose
names were immortalized in the misspelled form of De
Beer) in the town of Vooruizicht in South Africa and
soon another was found on the farm. A throng of...
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The Oppenheimers Arrive..
Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, who came from a prosperous cigar business family
in Germany, moved as a child to South Africa to join his brothers on a
diamond farm in 1902. He started his career as a diamond sorter and grew
rapidly to own and operate the world's most powerful...
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The Long Arm of De Beers
De Beers mainly mines gem quality and industrial
diamonds, markets diamonds produced by itself and also others, makes and
sells synthetic diamond and related international investments in mining,
industrial and finance companies. In its worldwide operations, it has
assumed many....
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Monopoly Through Financial Strength and Government
Support
De Beers could teach OPEC a thing or two about how to
maintain a cartel. It controls 80% of the world's diamond supply
through only 20% of De Beers gems come from its own mines. It
controls the world's diamond trade through indirect levers. Some
nations, such as Botswana...
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Read about Diamond History,
Diamond Trade, Buying Tips and more...
The Romans believed that diamonds brought
courage and bravery during battle. Jewish high priests used diamonds to
decide the innocence or guilt of the accused: A stone held before a
guilty person dulled and darkened; a stone held before an innocent
person glowed with increased brilliance. The Hindus believed that this
brilliant gem was created when....
Learn about Diamonds....
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A Diamond is Forever?
