De Beers’ Forevermark is rebranding itself as “De Beers Forevermark,” so that it will better align with its parent company.
The brand will also more closely align itself with the De Beers retail chain, De Beers Jewellers (DBJ), which has three stores in the United States. The two will now share a website, and some DBJ lines will be sold wholesale. Whether DBJ will sell Forevermark “remains to be seen,” says Forevermark US president Charles Stanley.
The diamonds will bear reports from the De Beers lab, which has been rebranded the “De Beers Institute of Diamonds.”
The name change is “part of a wider transformation that’s going on within De Beers, to make it a brand-led company,” says Stanley. “From a brand recognition standpoint, we were not leveraging our primary asset—our name—as much as we could. We were spending our marketing budget promotion on two different names. It didn’t make sense.”
De Beers will be the “master name” under which “sub-brands” like Forevermark will fall—just like names like Armani have different lines, Stanley says.
Of course, there’s a question of how much juice the De Beers name really has—given that its retail chain never really took off in the United States.
“The De Beers name, for those that are aware of it, is generally recognized by older consumers as a leader in diamonds and diamond expertise generally,” Stanley says. “We think there’s an opportunity to bring the De Beers name and its fame to a new generation of consumers, the Generation Z and millennials.”
Of course, not all the company’s history has been positive, as De Beers itself has admitted.
“There will be legacy issues and those are not being ignored,” Stanley says. “But the best way to address them is to talk about what we do today. We have an awful lot to be proud of. The ‘Building Forever’ goals have been embedded in our DNA.”
Speaking of history, De Beers plans to refresh its warhorse “A Diamond Is Forever” slogan—possibly writing it in cursive, to make it more “personal” and “relevant” to younger consumers.
Forevermark itself is undergoing a transformation, and now considers itself a “jewelry house” rather than a loose diamond brand that bears a signature “mark.”
The line has now taken over all its jewelry production—though the manufacturing is being farmed out on a contract basis—and is handling all branding, marketing, and fulfillment. Where it once was billed as mostly a bridal brand, it’s now focusing more on fashion.
“Our intention is for our offerings to be 50% bridal,” Stanley says.
Forevermark also hopes to expand the channels where the brand is sold.
Top: Forevermark Signet ring (photos courtesy of Forevermark)
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