Sara DeHaan

Cap 310

Professor Hokanson

Midterm Case Analysis

De Beers Group: Marketing Diamonds to Millennials

De Beers Group is a leading company in the global diamond industry. They were solely

responsible for incorporating the idea that engagements and weddings require a physical

diamond ring to solidify the commitment. De Beers offered a diamond that had a carat, clarity,

cut, and colour. These were advertised as romantic and expensive. A diamond ring is seen as

expensive, luxurious, and a sign of love. This is what De Beer sold. The idea of forever kind of

love.

In 1938, De Beers ran a marketing campaign that showcased how a diamond engagement

ring symbolizes love, and that every woman had to have one. Within 3 years the sales went up

55 per cent. A slogan was then created saying “A Diamond Is Forever” and convinced everyone

in the United States that a diamond ring was the way to properly propose to the love of his life.

This was important to showcase diamonds in this kind of light because in the 1980’s diamonds

were known as “blood diamonds”. These were diamonds that could’ve been used to help fund a

warlord or crimes and this showcased diamonds as unethical. This didn’t receive any better

world press when it was found out that diamond mining was done by children, low paid workers,

and horrible conditions yet diamonds were still so expensive.

80 years. This is a tough feat that most companies can’t say they’ve created. De Beer created the

idea of every couple needing a ring to solidify their love for each other.

Weaknesses - ​Focusing their selling on strictly diamonds is hard, because times have

changed and diamonds are seen as expensive and not as important. Millennials have changed the

market for expensive items and wanting experience over products and breaking tradition. A

Youtube Video was released on how engagement rings are a scam and how this was just a recent

idea Americans adopted. This created negative attention and started the downfall of Millennials

keeping tradition going.

Opportunities- ​They do have the ability to create a new campaign like they did 80 years

ago, and be one of the first companies to break through the Millenial market and get diamonds to

become popular again. There is so much untapped potential with the diamond market, and many

ways to try new campaigns.

Threats ​- With the market changing and many Americans in debt for school and finding

it pointless to spend paycheck’s worth on rings it has become clear that diamonds just aren’t

worth it. This is a threat not only to De Beers, but diamonds in general. If Millennials stop

buying diamonds in general it’ll be hard to target the younger generations as they wouldn’t want

diamonds either.

One of the competitors to the high class diamond markets are “fake” diamonds that look

like the real thing, but are in fact, synthetic. These have attracted millennials because it’s a

cheaper alternative and it looks exactly the same. Millenials can then spend the least amount

possible on a decent looking ring, and save for a wedding or a honeymoon. This is also an
alternative to buying vintage rings from secondhand shops that is becoming quite popular. A

problem that De Beer and many other diamond companies are facing is that millennials aren’t

getting married as young as baby boomers would, and a lot of the baby boomers

(grandparents/parents) started handing down their rings. De Beers target audience would be

Millenials and younger. 80 years ago they were able to break into an untapped market for

diamonds, and 80 years later it should be an even easier challenge. Their biggest competitor was

the idea of breaking tradition. Millennials grew up in a world that was completely different than

De Beer’s original target audience. Millennials have the desire to travel, not commit to anything

as fast as their parents did, and less money.

De Beer’s new campaign is a little bit different and trying to shift that same focus to a

different demographic. They used to state that every engagement would end with a diamond ring,

but they have now implemented millenial’s approach to not getting married soon, not getting

married at all, or not needing to commit by creating the campaign “Real is Rare. Real is

Diamond.” This was directed to millenials showing that you don’t need to legally commit to

someone, but a diamond ring would show your amount of love for them. Their slogan “Maybe

we won’t ever get married, and maybe we will, but I will spend my future with you, and I will be

honest with you, and it will be wild, it will be kind, and it will be real.” This is a good slogan but

it’s just trying too hard. They mention how millennials value real connection even more now,

and while that is true it’s very stereotypical.

I wouldn’t suggest this strategy, personally.

In 2019, love is a completely different meaning but what’s drastically changed is how a

woman and man stand in relationships, engagement, and marriage. In this day in age we have
women marrying women, women choosing to stay single, and women breaking the stay at home

future wife stereotype. In 2019, women are taking care of themselves for themselves and proving

they don’t need a man in their life, and the right one will come a long. As this article has shown,

couples are deciding to wait to commit legally to marriage and in that span of time diamonds

aren’t a thought. What if De Beers shifted their focus from couples to the sole person who would

actually want the diamond? Men don’t care about diamonds and the original idea of engagement

is a gift to the woman to prove he is committed long term. If De Beers broke through that

stereotype and advertised to women through a campaign they could call it “ Find A Diamond

Before You Find A Man” or along the lines of it. This would appeal to every single millenial,

single mom, and feminists. Put the power of purchasing a diamond into a woman’s hands and the

idea of a diamond becomes much more significant. It gives girls the idea to dream about what

they want to buy instead of waiting for someone to buy that for them. They should release this

campaign right before Valentines Day. While every girlfriend, fiance, and wives that are happy

and in love. There’s a whole market for the single woman who aren’t looking forward to a day

about love. They could air a whole campaign on social media targeting single females and they

could “lower” prices for that span of time. This would be an incentive for females to consider

buying a huge purchase to treat themselves. This campaign would work because every other

focus for diamonds is engagements and marriage. You wouldn’t be losing out on diamond

engagement rings, and you would be gaining the attention of the other half without rings.