Prior to the twentieth century, the proposal ritual in western tradition consisted of only two stages: a man asked a woman (in person or in a letter) for her hand in marriage, then met with her father to ask for his consent. The present day engagement proposal involving the giving of a diamond ring has augmented the erstwhile tradition and is now firmly established as a universal custom.
The inspired and brilliant marketing initiatives of one company, De Beers, and its talented throng of publicists, marketers, and advertisers has forever changed the way we perceive and value diamonds - symbols of esteem, wealth, luxury and above all, romance.
WHAT'S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT DIAMONDS?
ReplyDeleteWhen you cut through all the hype, is diamond really such a special gemstone? The answer is a resounding yes!
By Barry B. Kaplan
Like no other
ReplyDeleteDiamond is like no other substance. Except for certain trace elements like boron and nitrogen, it is composed entirely of carbon, the fundamental building block of all life on earth.
The hardest substance known
Carbon is the key ingredient of graphite, a substance that is exceptionally soft. Diamond, on the other hand, made from the very same core element, is the hardest substance known to man. The dichotomy is resolved when we understand the crystal structure of carbon atoms in diamond.
A quick high-school chemistry revision may be in order. Neutral carbon atoms consist of six protons (positively charged particles), and six electrons (negatively charged particles). Four of these electrons, called valence electrons, are available to bond with neighboring atoms. In diamond, all four electrons bond with adjacent atoms, forming covalent bonds - the strongest type of chemical bond. Each carbon atom is therefore connected to four other carbon atoms, creating a rigid and highly symmetrical crystal structure that provides diamond with its unmatched strength.
Diamond is produced deep within the earth, in an area known as the mantle. Scientific evidence suggests that the mantle was formed about 4 billion years ago. Thus, diamond may very well consist of the oldest elemental carbon found on earth.
Repels water and attracts grease
Diamond is the only substance that can scratch another diamond. It is exponentially harder than the next hardest substance, corundum, of which sapphire and ruby are comprised. Furthermore, diamond repels water and adheres to wax and grease. It is this remarkable property, that allows diamond to be easily separated from other minerals in the mining process.
Amazing density
Carbon has a relatively low atomic weight, yet diamond is amazingly dense - 3.51 grams per cubic centimeter. It took millions of years, a pressure of 55,000 atmospheres and temperatures of 1,400 degrees Celsius to produce diamond.
Superior brilliance and luster
In addition to the prized characteristics outlined above, diamond is also well known for its superior brilliance and luster. Like other high density materials, diamond has a high refractive index (ability to bend/slow light). When passing through diamond, light slows to a leisurely 77,000 miles per second. Diamond's high refractive index - 2.42 compared to 1.52 in glass - is also a good prognosticator of its high reflectance (ability to reflect light). Diamond also has a high coefficient of dispersion. When white light passes through a diamond, it is separated into a rainbow spectrum. When the different wavelengths of light interact with the diamond, the shorter wavelengths like blue are bent more than the longer wavelengths like red. This property produces an effect called "fire".
Excellent thermal conductor
Except for some very rare examples, most diamonds are poor electrical conductors. However, diamond possesses excellent thermal conductivity. When diamond is referred to as ice, it is meant quite literally. Diamond has four times the thermal conductivity of copper, itself a superb conductor. When diamond is put to the lips, it draws heat away from the body, making diamond feel cold to the touch.
The most celebrated
Unmatched in hardness, able to repel water and attract grease, of superior density, exhibiting unmatched brilliance and luster, highly reflective, and thermally conductive, diamond has earned its place as the most celebrated and extraordinary gemological specimen in nature.
FOREVER DIAMONDS
ReplyDeleteA powerful company, a catchy slogan, and how they forever changed the way we value diamonds.
By Barry B. Kaplan
Birth of a Legend
ReplyDeleteThe prestigious US magazine, Advertising Age, in its January 1999 edition, proclaimed "A Diamond is Forever", the most recognized and effective slogan of the twentieth century. Today, diamond engagement rings are commonplace, but were it not for a single company and its drive to dominate the diamond industry, history would have turned out differently.
Diamonds are not as rare as many people think; they are certainly not the rarest of gemstones - that honor goes to rubies - but they are the hardest. The illusion of diamond scarcity and its instant association with the concepts of romance and affluence can be traced back to a successful meeting in New York between Harry Oppenheimer and the president of N.W. Ayer & Son, Gerold M. Lauck, in September 1938.
Harry Oppenheimer was the son of the founder of the company that would become the most successful cartel of the twentieth century - De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. The South African company incorporated in 1888, during the burgeoning local diamond rush. At its formation and over the ensuing years, De Beers would successfully acquire countless interests in diamond mines and production facilities throughout the world.
The gift of love
N.W. Ayer & Son, a leading advertising agency in the United States, and the young Oppenheimer,encouraged by his bankers, sought to reverse the declining price of diamonds with a well-funded advertising campaign. Europeans were not yet taken with the idea of purchasing engagement rings featuring diamonds as the gemstone of choice. Moreover, impending war in Europe forced Oppenheimer and his bankers to promote their interests in their biggest market - the United States. At the time of the meeting with Ayer, three quarters of the cartel's diamonds were being sold there. But difficulties beleaguered this market too; diamonds were of an inferior quality to those sold in Europe, and prices were low - an average of $80 per stone.
Oppenheimer told Ayer that De Beers had not approached any other agencies and that if Ayer's plan was accepted, it would become the exclusive agency for promoting De Beers' interests in the United States. This shrewd tactic proved to be a strong motivating factor for N.W. Ayer, and after extensive research, the agency proposed a campaign to "channel American spending toward larger and more expensive diamonds".
To achieve this goal, Ayer further recommended strengthening the association of diamonds with romance. Young men, who purchased 90% of engagement rings, would be bombarded with the idea that diamonds were the gift of love. The first campaign aimed at men was launched in 1939 emphasizing the male's business savvy. Women, too, would be targeted with the idea that no courtship would be complete without a sparkling diamond. Famous houses of worship were featured in follow up advertisements, establishing a link between diamonds and the sacred tradition of a religious wedding.
A necessary luxury
ReplyDeleteAyer's marketing plan included public relations, advertising, product placement in films and on television, radio programs publicizing diamond trends, portraits of betrothed socialites, stories and photographs of celebrities for inclusion in magazines and newspapers - all targeted at a specific goal - the idea that diamonds were eternal, forever linked with romance, emotionally valued, and a necessary luxury.
One strategically successful and aesthetically creative magazine campaign - The Great Artists - featured the paintings of Picasso, Derain, Dali and Dufy, accompanied with poetic copy and prominently featuring four diamonds ranging from a half to three carats. The idea was to associate diamonds with the sophisticated subtext of art. These advertisements appeared in Fortune, Vogue, Time, The New Yorker and other publications, circulated mainly to middle and upper class readers.
Ayer engaged jewelers to give talks, lectures, classes and informal meetings to thousands of young women. Ayer also arranged for movie stars to appear at social events adorned with diamonds. The agency used its influence to modify film scripts and movie titles to feature diamonds more prominently. One example is the 1941 film, Skylark, which has the female character shopping for diamonds.
By 1941, the downward trend in retail sales had been reversed and in just three years, sales of diamonds in the United States had risen 55%. Ayer's success inspired the agency to pursue a new goal - to reinforce the "psychological necessity" of diamonds. An estimated 70 million people over the age of fifteen would be targeted with future marketing campaigns.
A diamond is forever
The slogan that would become the most resilient in history would be created in the office of N.W. Ayer in 1947. After a confounding series of unsuccessful attempts to produce a slogan for a new De Beers advertising campaign, Frances Gerety, a copywriter at the advertising agency, prayed for some divine assistance. Before heading home, she scrawled "a diamond is forever" on the bottom of a picture of two honeymooning lovers. It may have had humble beginnings, but according to Advertising Age, it is the most recognized slogan of the 20th century, and some ninety percent of all Americans know it. In less than a year, "A Diamond is Forever" became the official slogan of De Beers.
Hollywood's association with the alluring gem would continue into the fifties with "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", a box offices sensation starring screen icons Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell and featuring the sensuous song "Diamonds are a girl's best friend". Monroe's feminine sensuality helped secure the appeal of diamonds for women. By the end of the 1950s, N.W. Ayer was pleased to announce to De Beers that its twenty-year marketing campaign had successfully influenced the American public to consider a diamond engagement ring a necessity to the engagement ritual.
A new Japanese tradition
ReplyDeleteIn the 1960s, De Beers aimed its marketing prowess at conquering international markets. Japan, Germany and Brazil would be first, for which De Beers enlisted the help of J.Walter Thompson, an advertising agency with a vast network of international subsidiaries and affiliates.
Japanese parents adhered to a 1500 year old tradition of arranging marriages for their children through trusted go-betweens. In 1959, postwar Japan didn't permit the importation of diamonds, and the carbon-based gemstone did not yet feature as part of the yuino-hin bundle of gifts exchanged between the parents of the groom and the bride's family.
J. Walter Thompson's campaign sought to glamorize western values in a series of Japanese magazine advertisements featuring European-styled women wearing diamond rings, and involved in a variety of outdoor sporting activities. By 1981, sixty percent of married Japanese women sported a diamond. It had taken De Beers only fourteen years to make Japan the second largest engagement ring market after the United States. Japanese men were now spending three to four months' salary on their engagement ring purchases, considerably more than in the US.
Smaller is better
After extensive exploration in the late 50s, the Soviet Union had discovered several diamond mines in Siberia. These mines unearthed a plethora of half carat or smaller diamonds at a frenzied pace. In a private agreement with the Soviets, De Beers secured rights to this production. To sell the smaller stones, De Beers informed N.W. Ayer to focus on a strategy stressing the importance of "quality, color and cut" over size. Pictures of quarter carat rings immediately replaced pictures of larger rings. De Beers developed a new ring, called the "eternity ring" which would feature as many as twenty-five diamonds. These rings would be targeted at older women with the theme of "recaptured love".
By the mid 70s, the smaller-diamonds campaign was becoming too successful. Research showed that the average size of diamonds had fallen from one carat in 1930 to .28 carats in 1976. Meanwhile, Soviet diamond output continued to increase and De Beers sought additional avenues to market their production. They hoped to garner the same success they had enjoyed in Japan with the new international campaigns in Brazil, Germany, Austria and Italy. But that strategy, and existing sales of eternity rings would be insufficient to absorb all of the Soviet's output.
Bigger is better
N.W. Ayer suggested a bilateral approach for their 1978 campaign - smaller diamonds displayed in photographs, and an informative and emotive promotion aimed at reorienting consumer tastes and price preferences towards solitaire rings and away from multi-stone jewelry. Furthermore, they would use strategic campaign refinements to restore the status of bigger diamonds. Wholesale diamond sales reached $2.1 billion by 1979, a hundred-fold increase since 1939. In 2002, sales reached $5.15 billion. The key to this enormous revenue growth was one successful advertising campaign after another. But the collapse of the Soviet Union, civil unrest and war in Africa, and the discovery of new mines over the preceding decade had taken their toll on De Beers' command of the diamond trade. By the turn of the millennium, De Beers' market share had dropped to sixty five percent.
Past, Present and Future
ReplyDeleteWith the continued success of its existing marketing campaigns, De Beers sought new avenues to increase diamond demand. In January 2000, J. Walter Thompson announced an extensive marketing campaign for the "three-stone diamond anniversary ring", which featured a center half-carat stone flanked by two smaller-sized side-stones. The three-stone ring initiative was targeted at couples celebrating their anniversary. Research conducted by the advertising agency showed that female consumers shared a "desire to take stock of their relationship in the present day, reflect upon the journey shared as a couple, and look forward to the many happy years that lay ahead". The three-stone ring was tailor made for each facet of the relationship: Past, present and future. The three-stone ring campaign was a tremendous success.
What's in a name?
Then, in September 2000, De Beers made sweeping changes to its identity. Instead of using its own name in advertising, De Beers decided to use "Diamond Trading Co." (DTC). A new icon, called the ForeverMark shaped like a diamond with a star in its center was unveiled to the public in January 2001. The decision to use DTC instead of De Beers was an astute repositioning. De Beers would use the DTC name and the ForeverMark logo to market their rough production and the "De Beers" name to sell an exclusive brand of diamonds in soon-to-be-launched trendy De Beers stores.
In an effort to compete with the marketing budgets of other luxury goods, De Beers, realizing that diamonds lagged other luxury goods in advertising expenditure, raised its 2002 advertising budget to almost $200 million. De Beers leveraged an additional $150 million of diamond advertising from its customers. These enormous advertising resources helped launch the Fall 2002 ad campaign.
Bigger is better... again!
ReplyDeleteJ. Walter Thompson's campaign was aimed at stimulating women's desire for larger diamonds. The ad agency's research found that 82% of survey respondents desired jewelry with a diamond of at least a half-carat, but few actually received such stones. The "Diamonds that Make a Statement" campaign was targeted at 25-54 year old affluent married couples, earning a combined household income of at least $75,000. It featured products such as stud earrings and solitaire necklaces.
The ads debuted in September 2002 featuring diamonds and advertising copy on an all-black background. Each advertisement consisted of two panels. One panel showed a smaller diamond, the other showed the same design with a larger diamond. Accompanying the photographs were humorous catchphrases like "Thank you, Bob ... Thank you, Lord."
The De Beers branded diamond
In 2002 and 2003, four De Beers-branded diamond stores were opened - one in London, and three in Tokyo. The store openings and diamond branding was part of a De Beers joint venture retail partnership with LVMH, the world's leading luxury brands holding company that owns over 60 brands.
LVMH already owned several high-end fashion, leather goods, cosmetics, jewelry and watch brands, including Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Fendi, Christian Dior, and TAG Heuer. De Beers already controlled the majority of the world's diamond rough production, but with new mines being discovered in Canada and the rest of the world - many of which were not under the dominion of a De Beers alliance - it was only a matter of time before De Beers' stranglehold on rough diamond supply was eroded. The goal of the De Beers LVMH partnership was to help De Beers shift its core business away from mining and marketing of rough diamonds to the development of a retail brand bearing the powerful De Beers name.
Raise your right hand...
ReplyDeleteConstantly seeking new avenues to stimulate diamond demand, the DTC, in September 2003, launched the "Women of the World Raise Your Right Hand" print campaign targeted at the evolved, affluent, fashion savvy woman who has probably been married at some point, previously received diamond jewelry, and needs no one's permission to indulge herself. The target group for this DTC campaign, women aged 35 to 64, is slightly older than in other campaigns. Each advertisement features four ring styles - modern vintage, contemporary, floral and romantic - and a photo of a stylish woman who exemplifies the target audience. The ad copy encourages women to think of rings for their right hands as expressions of personal style for the independent, worldly, assertive sides of their personalities.
Celebrate Her
The DTC's 2003 holiday campaign was themed "Celebrate Her," designed to motivate men to purchase diamond jewelry for their significant other. The campaign featured solitaire, three stone and right hand diamond rings. The DTC's research indicated that "He" was looking for a way to show his significant other how much he valued their relationship and everything she did for him. He was looking for a gift that demonstrated his love for her.
Forever De Beers
Prior to the twentieth century, the proposal ritual in western tradition consisted of only two stages: a man asked a woman (in person or in a letter) for her hand in marriage, then met with her father to ask for his consent. The present day engagement proposal involving the giving of a diamond ring has augmented the erstwhile tradition and is now firmly established as a universal custom.
The inspired and brilliant marketing initiatives of one company, De Beers, and its talented throng of publicists, marketers, and advertisers has forever changed the way we perceive and value diamonds - symbols of esteem, wealth, luxury and above all, romance.
Forever De Beers:
ReplyDeleteif I receive, I wear him forever.