Observations

Christopher Designs

It’s holiday time and seasonal songs fill the air, along with enticing ads to buy a variety of luxuries. But this year, one ad campaign is missing…the advertising for diamonds. For years, De Beers was master of the diamond universe, blanketing the holiday season with print ads, bus kiosk displays and billboards featuring that year’s beacon product with a clever catch phrase. Sappy television ads that kept diamonds front and center as the ultimate gift of love were inescapable. This year, however, there are no stirring strains of the Palladio concerto from the De Beers Shadows campaign, not even a few bars of the reboot of the Sonny and Cher anthem “I’ve Got You Babe,” accompanying an awkward ice skater as he presents the glamourous ice to his love. There is no longer any identifiable
diamond-specific promotion targeting consumers. In a world packed with choices and a generation that sits in the same room texting each other rather than talking to each other, a generation more into high tech than sparkle, it won’t take long for diamonds to take a back seat to other luxury — or technological — products. It’s time to take action again. The industry associations and mining interests need to get together and continue to ensure that the recognition of diamonds as the ultimate symbol of love and glamour moves forward. The old adage “it takes money to make money” is true. It takes a lot of money and expertise to mount an advertising avalanche that will keep diamonds as a cultural imperative for consumers. Mines can contribute, industry associations could contribute in part through their dues. Then hire an agency and let it continue to build on the existing diamond message, as well as add new components that appeal to a new generation — tell the story of how diamonds do good and spread the message of love to the rest of the world. Times are tough and money is tight, but when De Beers launched its diamond engaement ring campaign, World War II was raging…times don’t get much tougher than that. Taking action now means that next year at holiday season, diamonds will take their rightful place front and center as the most desired gift that lasts forever.