De Beers "A Diamond Is Forever" Campaign

For centuries, diamonds have been regarded as one of the most valuable commodities in the world and the industry has evolved into billions of dollars. At the top, De Beers dominated the entire industry worldwide, from exploration to retail selling. However, it has a reputation of a monopolist, where it influences supply and demand. The two critical factors that De Beers carefully maintained throughout the century to remain in monopoly was to create the illusion of the scarcity of the diamonds and to keep the prices high. Realizing the benefits of the cooperation and the dangers of the oversupply, most

Today, over two thirds of the world’s diamonds come from one company, De Beers. The London based company was one the first companies involved in the mining for diamonds in Africa immediately following their discovery. Cecil Rhodes was attracted to the new prospects of mining in African and he started his search for diamonds in 1870. Another English immigrant miner named Barney Barnato, Rhodes’ rival, also fought to control the same diamond claims as Rhodes. By 1880, Rhodes had bought out Barnato and had founded De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. Rhodes envisioned controlling the whole diamond market. By 1888, he had realized his vision and he had gained monopolistic control over the whole diamond market. He completed his monopoly with the formation of cartel, the London Diamond Syndicate, who were that biggest diamond merchants of the time. His syndicate allowed him to perfectly match supply with demand. They provided him with critical information about the diamond market allowing him to create an artificially controlled supply of diamonds. In return for their assistance, the diamond merchants were guaranteed a certain amount of diamonds from Rhode’s mines.

At this point, Tweed won every battle that came his way. In 1866, as it would later be discovered, he, Hall, Richard Connolly, and Peter Barr Sweeney started the “Tweed Ring”, which ultimately damned him. Over the next five years, the foursome would make between $40 and $100 million dollars off the city they claimed to love and protect (bosstweedproject). The Tweed Ring seized control of the city treasure in 1870, funneling funds into their own private bank account so exceedingly that action had to be taken.

The next project was bottling Gordon Biersch signature beer and retailing it. This had three biggest challenges: this project was entirely Gordon’s baby and demanded time and attention; secondly the freshness of the bottled beer versus the freshly brewed was an issue for which they decided the beer would have a shelf life no longer than three months. Thirdly and the most exciting challenge was the head-to-head competition with other microbreweries and premium beers. Despite the tough competitive environment, Gordon Biersch aimed to achieve 11% of the market in three years (by 1996). This retail venture required huge investment, thus they decided to start small to prove to the investors that they could pull it off.

First of all, despite the declination of DeBeer’s dominance on the diamond’s industry, it still is the number one diamond manufactures in the world who has good reputation and extraordinary impact. If they can do more on advertisement, to let more people know about their brand, this would definitely increase their sales. A statistic shows that consumers are willing to pay 15% premium for the same stone for DeBeers which shows people are still tend to trust the brand.

Bluenail Company article , this company is a littel bit simmlar to the Dee Beers story purpose. It is to educate the readers and the buiers about the quality of Diamonds and to pursuade them to buy, and convencing them by giving them the chance to know theier favoraite type of diamond and its color , the ring size chart of their fingers, and the unbeliveable

De Beers was aware that the only market where diamonds could sell was in the Unites States of America. Harry Oppenheimer used the American advertising agency N.W. Ayer to change the public’s perception on diamonds.(Epstein: 1982) The campaign used many tactics which included the slogan “A diamond is

25. How did the De Beers cartel try to maintain control of the price in the diamond market? How was this control undermined? Briefly discuss.

Top companies in the United States range from automobile manufacturers to household appliance manufacturers to

“We covet diamonds in America for a simple reason: the company that stands to profit from diamond sales decided that we should.”

The De Beers Group of Companies established itself in the diamond industry in the late 1800’s and it was only a matter of time until De Beers owned virtually every diamond mine in South Africa. Diamond distributors joined up with De Beers because of similar interests: they wanted to create a scarcity of diamonds, so that high prices would follow. Eventually, De Beers would establish exclusive contracts with suppliers and buyers, making it impossible to deal with diamonds outside of De Beers. For the remainder of the 20th century, the business model was the same: A subsidiary of De Beers would buy the diamonds and De Beers would determine the amount of diamonds they wanted to sell, and at what prices. In turn, De Beers funneled all of the

The woman in the picture has a look confidence on her face showing her empowerment of wearing a diamond ring. Although there are many words in the text, the slogan “A Diamond Is Forever” makes diamonds seem sophisticated and extraordinary. There is no extra emphasis on these words so the simplicity of the ad remains untouched by them. The simplicity of this ad as a whole gives its audience no choice but to look.

Three Rivers Optical is a company located in Pittsburgh which supplies lenses to the ophthalmic community. Steve Siebert, CEO and head of marketing faces different challenges on deciding if he should keep trade shows he has been doing as sales have not been proficient enough, and whether he should invest in new trade show to grow TRO’s market share. Steve’s plan is to invest into different states such as California and Michigan in the next five years. As TRO is moving towards the west, it needs to invest in trade shows International Vision Expo West and Midwest Vision Conference & Expo. Trade shows are a very important investment in the eyes of TRO since they generate sales, and more importantly attract new

During the time prior to this explosive marketing campaign, the world was being rocked by war and one of the worst economic hardships its history. Clearly food and shelter were the necessities that everyone strove for, and not jewelry. De Beers had to find a way to focus on the emotional value of the diamond rather than the monetary worth. The biggest problem with diamonds is that they are actually worth about 50% less than what you pay for them. That is a hard fact to swallow for some. However, De Beers hired the brilliant marketing minds at N.W. Ayer. This firm put the talents of Frances Garety to work, and a campaign that could stand the test of time was born. In fact, the slogan was voted the number 1 slogan of the century in 1999.

3. Description of the IMF Project to Help Africa Crack Down on Illicit Diamond Trade