A Diamond is Forever - Samantha Clarkson

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You can never predict exactly what’s going to be a huge marketing win.

Diamond engagement rings have become commonplace and even expected now, but when did that all start?

Diamonds were first discovered in Africa in the mid 1800s, and were usually only used on engagement rings by the wealthy. In America, the popularity of diamonds went down even further during WWI and the Great Depression.

This was not good for companies like De Beers, who mined and exported diamonds.

Looking to increase marketing strategies, they hired an advertising agency. It took ten years before a breakthrough slogan was produced by copywriter Mary Gerety.

She scribbled down “A Diamond is Forever” on a piece of paper before going to bed, and presented it the next morning. The strange grammar made her associates cautious at first, who also claimed the slogan didn’t mean anything, but it was approved. A diamond is forever, just like the love it represents.

Since 1948, this slogan has been used in every De Beers diamond ad. In 1999, it was declared the “Slogan of the Century” by Advertising Age.

Not only did this slogan drive diamond sales up, it also made diamond engagement rings the norm.

Now imagine if the slogan had never been approved, if the associates at the agency said: “Nah, we’re not going to waste our time.” Maybe they would have found a different slogan to go with, but it’s doubtful it would have been nearly as successful.

There are a few lessons to be learned here.

Firstly, keep it simple. For years Gentry had been writing ads based on the fact that diamonds were lasting. They were generally much longer or merely implied that idea rather than saying it explicitly. It wasn’t until she boiled it down to those three words that she found considerable success.

Secondly, go with your gut. Even though her associates were hesitant to run the ad as I mentioned before, they didn’t spend time creating the “perfect” copy, and created the slogan of the century.

Finally, create a need, and fill it. Diamonds were not common on engagement rings before this campaign. This campaign and the ones based around it created this belief that an engagement ring without the diamond was not really an engagement ring. There was no original need for diamonds, so they created one.

This slogan is a fascinating one because it literally reshaped our culture, and most of us don’t even realise it.