The Greatest Marketing Campaign Ever?

De Beers was a cartel that controlled the price and flow of diamonds for a century.  Over the last decade their control of the diamond trade has significantly diminished, but they continue to maintain approximately 50 percent of market share.  While De Beers controlled supply and artificially inflated prices, they still needed consumer demand in order to sell their “precious” stones.  In 1938 the advertising agency N.W. Ayer was brought on to create a marketing program that would change the positioning of diamonds in the minds of Americans. 

N.W. Ayer, responsible for slogans such as Camel’s “I’d walk a mile for a Camel”, AT&T’s “Reach out and touch someone”, and the Army’s “Be all you can be”, created the famous “A diamond is forever” refrain.  As detailed in a 1982 piece by Edward Epstein in The Atlantic, N.W. Ayer's campaign was so successful that 75 years later the position of diamonds as a necessary part of courtship, marriage, and love is solidly cemented.

Here’s a snippet of The Atlantic article:  In its 1947 strategy plan, the advertising agency strongly emphasized a psychological approach.  "We are dealing with a problem in mass psychology. We seek to ... strengthen the tradition of the diamond engagement ring -- to make it a psychological necessity capable of competing successfully at the retail level with utility goods and services...." It defined as its target audience "some 70 million people 15 years and over whose opinion we hope to influence in support of our objectives." N. W. Ayer outlined a subtle program that included arranging for lecturers to visit high schools across the country. "All of these lectures revolve around the diamond engagement ring, and are reaching thousands of girls in their assemblies, classes and informal meetings in our leading educational institutions," the agency explained in a memorandum to De Beers.”

I highly recommend reading the entire article, which chronicles not only the marketing campaign but the history and actions of De Beers to control the diamond market.

The Atlantic:  http://www.theatlantic.com/past/issues/82feb/8202diamond1.htm