In February this year, the Rapaport industry website published the first article (three in total) in a cycle about “The Industry’s Russia Crisis”1. Here is a quote from this very interesting publication: “By the spring of 1955, geologist Yuri Khabardin was excited to come across a foxhole in a ravine that exposed blue earth, indicating high diamond content. (See “Alrosa the Diamond Fox” in the July 2013 issue of Rapaport Magazine). Much was at stake, with the directive to find diamonds coming from the highest levels. Joseph Stalin recognized the need for industrial diamonds to help rebuild Russia after the war, and he knew he couldn’t rely on De Beers goods for fear they might boycott supply to the Soviet Union. From that initial discovery of the Mir mine, Yakutia emerged as arguably the most diamondiferous region in the world.”
It should be noted that in the summer (and not in the spring) of 1955, when the team headed by Yuri Khabardin discovered the Mir diamond pipe, Joseph Stalin had been dead for more than two years, and therefore, the Russia’s need for industrial diamonds hardly bothered him. But the Soviet leadership could well rely on their friendship with De Beers: in 1951-1953, in circumvention of the COCOM requirements, the USSR purchased industrial diamonds from Britain at dumping prices in the quantity sufficient for future 15 years, and that quantity of industrial diamonds was by an order of magnitude more than the USSR received under Lend-Lease during World War 22. And really, Yakutia became (potentially) the most diamondiferous region in the world, however not after the discovery of the Mir diamond pipe, but after the discovery of 14 more primary deposits in the same year.
The author of the above-mentioned article is Avi Krawitz, one of the most well-known diamond analysts, editor of the Rapaport Group. I don’t think that the four mistakes in three sentences reflect his true level of knowledge of the diamond history. But the fact is that journalists, analysts, marketers who want to work in the industry’s information mainstream have to adhere to an extremely politicized and legendized version of events (a cover-up), and any attempts to go beyond the canonical paradigm are met with complete silence, at best. Incidentally, that is why the well-thought-out cover story (legend) of the “diamond embargo” concocted in the 1950s for deep-cover deliveries of rough diamonds from Britain to the USSR, is still reproduced today, despite its documentary refutation. The reason is clear: the legendized diamond history is an integral component of the natural polished diamonds’ image, the framework of the information shell, which is the real product in this market.
The thesis that a long and bright history is an obvious marketing advantage of a natural polished diamond over a synthetic one is basically true. “A natural polished diamond is an ‘original’, a synthetic one is a copy”; it is an excellent idea that can divide the markets for goods that are absolutely identical in physical characteristics. Indeed, the original Cézanne’s painting and the copy of a Cezanne’s work have almost identical canvas and paints. But the original painting is an exceptional and unique story of Cézanne’s work, and its copy is just a copy that can be replicated many times, which determines the drastic difference in price. It would seem that it is not difficult to build a marketing strategy based on such an idea, but we do not see the slightest progress in it. What is barring the progress? It is the legendized nature of the diamond history that interfered as well as the numerous taboos imposed on the most “attractive” historical topics from the point of view of a marketer.
The behaviour of promising consumers in the countries that are key for the polished diamond market today is very infantile: well-being and stability provoke a desire (usually unconscious) for a big adventure, deviation, risk, and getting the adrenalin going. Let it be at the expense of the virtual product consumption. Just evaluate the recent tremendous success of the TV series “Wednesday” in these countries: the movie producer brilliantly reflected the complexes of man-children of different ages - as if according to the textbook of psychiatry - and a ‘bucket‘ of blood is shown in each episode. It sells greatly!
But a marketer working in the industry’s information mainstream has to turn a diamond story into a substance for ‘blowing pink bubbles’, completely without any intrigue. Read the ambitiously titled article “A Brief History of Natural Diamonds: From Formation to Today” on the NDC website3. Seven paragraphs, which are Wiki extracts collected in a slipshod fashion, diluted with pretty-pretty slogans - that is, as it turns out, the whole story of Natural Diamonds as it is presented by the leading generic marketing organization. Because according to the slogan, “Diamonds do good”! It is a good slogan for a politician in Botswana running in the elections. But it is completely ineffective for the American young people who enjoy watching the Wednesday’s dance to “Bloody Mary” by Lady Gaga on TikTok.
Feeling the energy of historical content by marketers, and understanding at the same time that it is impossible to go beyond the industry’s information mainstream, sometimes leads to curious paradoxes. For example, the ALROSA Diamonds website presents the Berkana collection of diamond jewellery, which uses runes4. The author of the collection explained her choice of runes as follows, “The Gebo rune is a symbol of love and balance in relations with the world, the Ansuz rune is wisdom. The Inguz Rune is a symbol of fest, carnival. The Soulu rune is a symbol of a sprout - a shoot - breaking through an asphalt paved road, this rune has a very powerful life energy. And the most important Berkana rune is a symbol of a happy woman, the entire collection is named after this rune. Not so long ago, I began to understand what happiness is and I greatly enjoy everything! And the runes are a powerful accumulator of the right energy, which attracts and accelerates positive changes.”5 Such a free interpretation of what the runes symbolize, of course, can make a medievalist smile (in the 8th century, the Vikings had no idea about asphalt paved roads), but it does not stand out from the mainstream - there is love and wisdom, fests, happiness, in short, “Diamonds Do Good”, and it’s very nice.
In fact, the Soulu rune is a sign of power, struggle and death, an attribute of Thor. And it is also called the Sig rune, and Sig rune was put on the buttonholes of SS uniforms, SS award rings and the emblem of the 12th SS Panzer Division “Hitler Youth” (Hitlerjugend). And the Berkana rune, a symbol of fertility, was depicted on the engagement rings of the SS, which Himmler used to award the most distinguished members of the Allgemeine SS (Schwarze SS). All five runes used in the Berkana collection are included in the all-German senior futhark (24 runes) widely used in the Third Reich (Drittes Reich) in various rituals, as well as in official and award documents.
It is unlikely that the authors of the Berkana collection put any ideological undertones into their designs, but the conflict between the desire to use the energy (in this case, black energy) of historical content and the need to adhere to the information mainstream is obvious here. Although this case is, perhaps, interesting not so much for a marketer as for a psychoanalyst.
Diamonds have done, do and will do good! This is the current information mainstream of the natural diamond industry. Well, try to add the supply of diamonds to Hitler to it, nuclear explosions in the diamond provinces, or De Beers’ cooperation with UNITA. I see, you cannot get a Stone Flower from a Russian tale by Pavel Bazhov? And instead of a bright, dramatic story, an exciting and dangerous adventure, there are seven paragraphs of ‘pink bubbles’ at the industry’s leading Internet-resource, aren’t there? The only marketing advantage of natural polished diamonds over synthetic ones is slipping away like water through your fingers? That’s just the way it is. And all this is because the existing information shell, the image of a polished diamond, was designed for a couple of post-war generations, it was the time when the slogan “A Diamond is Forever” hit right on the target. Baby boomers dreamed of stability and prosperity, the world war was over just some time ago. For today’s infantile consumers - ‘men-children’ - living in the countries important for the diamond market, prosperity and stability are not a dream, but their original living conditions. It is necessary to ‘sell’ another dream and another image of a polished diamond to them. But it is impossible to create this image without a fundamental change in the industry’s information mainstream.
But if you fail to turn the historical content to your advantage, it will be used against you. It is true, synthetic polished diamonds have no history. But the stories they need to cannibalize the market are plentiful and everywhere now, natural diamond marketers avoid touching them not to fall out of the industry’s mainstream. These stories can be picked up, dusted off and used in counter-marketing models. How to do this, we will discuss in the following publications.
Sergey Goryainov, Rough&Polished
1 https://rapaport.com/analysis/the-industrys-russia-crisis-the-importance-of-alrosa/
2 The State Archive of the Russian Federation. F. 5446. Inv.86.а. D. 1113. Sh. 2,3.
3 https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/epic-diamonds/history/the-diamond-story/
4 https://alrosadiamond.ru/berkana/
5 Ориентир — позитив. Екатерина Мухина о совместной с ALROSA DIAMONDS коллекции. / The orientation is positive. Ekaterina Mukhina about the joint collection with ALROSA DIAMONDS. https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5065262
