De Beers is bringing back its time-tested “A diamond is forever” slogan—again—as part of a new “category-driving” marketing effort for natural diamonds that will debut this holiday season.
“Forever Present” will appear on social media and other digital platforms and in physical locations such as major airports. Campaign assets will be made available free of charge to independent jewelers who are investing in promoting natural diamonds during the holidays.
The campaign, which includes a 60-second film, is built around a “series of relationships,” says Sally Morrison, De Beers’ U.S. natural diamond market lead.
“It’s not just romantic relationships, but a father and a daughter, and a mother and a newborn. It’s about the moments that people hold in their mind, these special connections that are so significant for them, they want to commemorate and remember.”
Besides “A diamond is forever,” the ad contains a new tagline, “Natural connections deserve natural diamonds.”
Morrison notes that “modern consumers see relationships differently than how people saw them in the past as more fixed, less flexible.
“With [De Beers ‘beacon’] Journey, the line was ‘With every step, love grows.’ That was movement toward something fixed and permanent, a sense of destination. This generation doesn’t see things in those terms. It’s more about the continuum, and moments in that continuum where they feel more connected with the other person. Today, relationships fluctuate, and they build, and they grow. Consumers are looking as relationships as more of a continuum and less as a final destination.”
Participants in De Beers focus groups talked “about doing small things that make their partner feel seen,” Morrison adds. “People want those gestures in their everyday lives that make them feel acknowledged. They wanted to show and demonstrate that they are really thinking about their relationships.”
Focus group participants also expressed strong opinions about gift-giving.
“It’s become very transactional,” says Morrison. “People didn’t want to give gift cards and things that seemed like they were phoned in. They wanted something that was more thoughtful.”
The people in the ads are all real-life couples and parents, to add “authenticity,” Morrison says.
“Forever Present” was created by Arnold Worldwide, which also developed the campaign De Beers is running with Signet Jewelers, “Worth the Wait.” Morrison says they both stem from similar insights.
“They’re kind of sister campaigns in a way,” she explains. “They slot together as [showing a] continuation of the life journey.”
Beyond the current holidays, the ads might run on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, according to Morrison. “We see many legs for this campaign,” she says.
(Photo courtesy of De Beers)
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