Connect with us

Headlines

De Beers Turns Away From Lab-Grown Diamond Engagement Rings

The company will spend an additional $20M to support consumer demand in natural diamonds for the 2023 holiday season in the U.S. and China.

mm

Published

on

De Beers Turns Away From Lab-Grown Diamond Engagement Rings
De Beers Group is doubling down on natural diamonds with the return of the ‘A Diamond is Forever’ category campaign

De Beers Group announced that it will reintroduce its “A Diamond is Forever” tagline with an additional $20 million investment to support consumer demand in natural diamonds for the 2023 holiday season in the U.S. and China.

The category investment “will be incremental to De Beers’ current brand activities and will see the return of the company’s
‘Seize the Day’ campaign,” according to a press release.

De Beers also confirmed in a press release that a recent Lightbox lab-grown diamond engagement ring test has now ended.

The $20 million investment will be used to support a broad media mix in the US and China, targeting end clients with a “just in time message” for the holiday season. The campaign will include traditional media – print, out of home, and digital – and an investment into influencer-developed content.

More from the release:

Further to running the campaign itself, De Beers is also making the materials available to the trade for their use free of charge. De Beers will work with leading industry organisations to communicate how retailers can access select campaign assets.

In parallel, De Beers confirmed that a recent Lightbox lab-grown diamond (LGD) engagement ring test has now ended. Through the test the company deepened its understanding of LGDs and evaluated the changing landscape and consumer perceptions associated with them. Lightbox will continue to focus on where it sees the most promising future opportunities in the sector – in fashion jewellery and in loose stones at accessible price points – and will not sell LGD engagement rings.

Further, the engagement ring test reinforced existing insights into the wider LGD sector that indicate the commercial proposition for many LGD engagement ring offers is likely unsustainable, with retailers already needing to double the number of LGD carats sold every two years just to maintain a flat absolute gross profit.

De Beers’ most recent consumer survey data for the US and China sees natural diamonds ranked in the top three most desired luxury items for women to acquire. In the US, four in five women see natural diamonds as carrying significant meaning and being the perfect way to mark an important moment in a relationship, while the primary motivation for LGD purchases is price. Four times as many luxury jewellery consumers state they would choose natural diamonds for special occasions compared with those choosing LGDs, while more than three and a half times as many say they would be proud to wear natural diamonds compared with those who would be proud to wear LGDs.

Al Cook, CEO of De Beers Group, said: “Natural diamonds have remained icons of love for centuries. And De Beers advertising has remained iconic over the decades. We’re proud to build on this tradition by reviving and refreshing one of our most successful campaigns. By investing ahead of the holiday season, we aim to support the industry, drive consumer demand and underline our confidence in the future of the diamond dream.”

David Prager, Chief Brand Officer of De Beers Group, said: “For more than 75 years ‘A Diamond is Forever’ has perfectly encapsulated the symbolic promise of a natural diamond. Through our category investments in both traditional media and influencer-created content, we will reintroduce the highly successful ‘Seize the Day’ campaign, modernised for a new generation. De Beers is committed to supporting retailers to unlock the strong underlying desire for natural diamonds this holiday season.”

Advertisement

Advertisement

SPONSORED VIDEO

Retiring? Let Wilkerson Do the Heavy Lifting

Retirement can be a great part of life. As Nanji Singadia puts it, “I want to retire and enjoy my life. I’m 78 now and I just want to take a break.” That said, Nanji decided that the best way to move ahead was to contact the experts at Wilkerson. He chose them because he knew that closing a store is a heavy lift. To maximize sales and move on to the next, best chapter of his life, he called Wilkerson—but not before asking his industry friends for their opinion. He found that Wilkerson was the company most recommended and says their professionalism, experience and the homework they did before the launch all helped to make his going out of business sale a success. “Wilkerson were working on the sale a month it took place,” he says. “They did a great job.”

Promoted Headlines

Most Popular