At a teleconference held by De Beers to disclose half-year results their Managing Director Gareth Penny highlighted two things related to the U.S. market. The first was that the company has opened a store in Honolulu, although by all appearances it will be managed by its Asian division.
With the eight stores it now has open in the United States there are two more upcoming in Naples and Costa Mesa. As Penny has noted previously, the company’s goal is to get near fifty worldwide by the end of the year.
Secondly, Penny said the company this Christmas plans “some very innovative and exciting marketing programs, in the U.S. in particular.”
As explained by Janet Sussens, the head of De Beers’ U.S. marketing, the company has scheduled the following events:
- On the “innovative front”, the company hopes to do more things along the lines of the ad slogan “A Diamond is Forever” made of roses it installed earlier this year (in May) at Grand Central Station in New York. The idea is apparently while flowers die, a diamond is forever. “That was hugely successful for us - it generated a lot of interest and PR,” Sussens says.
- The company also plans to do more online advertising, including buying search engine keywords, as well as email advertising and online banners, all designed to drive people to adiamondisforever.com.
- The company plans to rerun last year’s “Drive Home” commercial, which now advertises “Journey.” It may also do a version with ear studs. “When our team went to trade shows, there was huge interest in featuring ear studs,” Sussens says. “Our team reckons that ear studs will be a big item this Christmas.”
Sussens says “Drive Home” was one of the best commercials the company’s ever done.
- It will also continue its “Seize the Day” outdoor and print campaigns.
The U.S. budget has been “scaled back” Sussens admits, although Christmas advertising now comprises a bigger share of the overall total. Journey “will be about 25% of what we show,” she says, “but otherwise, it’s back to the old classics: ear studs, solitaire necklaces and the other beacons we’ve been spotlighting.”
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