De Beers will invest $US20 million ($AU31.07 million) in a campaign aimed at ‘supporting consumer demand’ for natural diamonds in the US and China.
The investment will supplement De Beers’ current brand activities. It will include the return of the ‘Seize The Day’ promotion as part of a broad media mix targeting customers with a ‘just in time’ theme.
The campaign will include traditional media – print, out-of-home, and digital – and an investment into social media influencer-developed content.
“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,” CEO Al Cook said.
“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.”
As part of the announcement, De Beers also revealed findings from a recent consumer survey in the US and China.
Natural diamonds ranked third among the most desired luxury items for women. In the US, four out of five women viewed diamonds as carrying ‘significant meaning and being the perfect way to mark an important moment in a relationship’.
The survey found that the primary motivation for purchasing lab-created diamonds is price.
“We went back into De Beers’ archives and De Beers’ history and looked at some of the category campaigns that have been effective in the past,” chief brand officer David Prager told JCK Online.
“We were particularly looking for something that we could turn around very quickly, that was highly successful, and where almost all the investment that we made would not go to production and celebrities and film shoots but rather would go to flighting media that would have an impact for Christmas.”
The marketing materials will be available to retailers free of charge.
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