N. W.

Ayer & Son created one of the most recognized slogans of

the 20th century, A diamond is forever.
Harry Oppenheimer of De Beers and Ayer president Gerold M.
Lauck discussed a marketing campaign in 1938 that would change
the falling price of diamonds at the time. The idea of engagement
rings decorated with diamonds wasn't very popular in Europe, but
interest in diamonds was high in the U.S. Because of this,
Oppenheimer decided to promote the idea in the U.S. and told
Lauck that, if Ayer's plan was successful, De Beers would have
Ayer become the exclusive agency for its American interests. Ayer
was motivated to propose that its campaign should move the
American spending demographic towards larger and more
expensive diamonds.
To successfully achieve its goal, Ayer suggested a reinforcement
of the relationship of diamonds with love and romance. This
proved successful, as both men and women were caught in the
relationship of diamonds being a gift of love. The slogan created
for De Beers remained memorable for many years.[8]

Its hard to imagine a time when diamond engagement rings

were not the norm; today, even after a decade and a half of bad
press about blood diamonds and working conditions in the
mines, among other concerns, 75 percent of brides in the
United States wear one, according to Kenneth Gassman,
president of the Jewelry Industry Research Institute.
Last year, Americans spent almost $7 billion on the rings. But
in 1938, when a De Beers representative wrote to N. W. Ayer
to inquire whether the use of propaganda in various forms
might boost the sale of diamonds in the United States, their
popularity had been on a downward trend, in part because of
the Depression.
N.W. Ayer conducted extensive surveys of consumer attitudes
and found that most Americans thought diamonds were a
luxury for the ultra-wealthy. Women wanted their men to
spend money on a washing machine, or a new car, anything
but an engagement ring, Ms. Gerety said in 1988. It was
considered just absolutely money down the drain.
Still, the agency set an ambitious goal: to create a situation
where almost every person pledging marriage feels compelled
to acquire a diamond engagement ring.
Because De Beers controlled the world supply of rough
diamonds, antitrust laws prohibited the company from doing

business in the United States. The ads could not promote De

Beers, or even show pictures of jewelry, so the agency
commissioned bold paintings by artists like Andr Derain and
purchased pre-existing works by Dal and Picasso.
Sentiment is essential to your advertising, as it is to your
product, it counseled De Beers in a memo, for the emotional
connotation of the diamond is the one competitive advantage
which no other product can claim or dispute.
Ms. Geretys early copy sometimes bordered on the heavyhanded. A typical wartime ad read: Star of Hope: The
engagement diamond on her finger is bright as a tear but
not with sadness. Like her eyes it holds a promise of cool
dawns together, of life grown rich and full and tranquil. Its
lovely assurance shines through all the hours of waiting, to
kindle with joy and precious meaning at the beginning of their
new life to be.
In the 1980s, the agency introduced a series of ads setting a
new arbitrary but authoritative-seeming benchmark: Isnt
two months salary a small price to pay for something that
lasts forever?

Of course, kings and maharajas had made diamonds

desirable for centuries. The genius of what Gerety did was
to fuse together the idea of swooning, everlasting love with
a sparkly rock. According to psychologist Robert Passikoff,
who runs the consultancy Brand Keys, people take certain
signs of objects and imbue them with an unspoken
meaningand thanks to De Beers, diamonds have come
to be seen as a natural rarity, a precious embodiment of
the marital pledge. In the early days, not all grooms (who
make up 90 percent of diamond buyers) got it, and so the
copy helped things along with lines like Your engagement
diamond, with noble fire, reflects the greatness of your
love.
Eventually, the dudes glommed onand they havent
forgotten. While both the 2011 ad and its 1957 forerunner

use beautiful diamonds as a thematic centerpiece, the

contemporary ad has dispensed with all explanatory copy.
Over time, Passikoff says, consumers have a stronger
perception of what the diamond represents, so you dont
need the copy. The meaning has endured. Why screw with
success?
But the strongest proof of the efficacy of Diamonds Are
Forever isnt measured in the endurance of the phrase,
but its ability to cloud the heads of grooms-to-be (who
drop an average of $3,200 on an engagement ring) with a
sweet-smelling, fictional mist. Not only are diamonds not
rare (De Beers holds back so much supply that if all the
worlds diamonds were dumped onto the market, theyd be
worth less than $30 each), but what they symbolize isnt
forever, either. According to the National Center for
Health Statistics 43 percent of new marriages will end in
the first 10 years.
So maybe diamonds arent foreverbut a good slogan sure
is.

To make a giant income marketing to the affluent you

must erase your own deeply ingrained insistence at
connecting price to worth and worth to function.
On closer examination, this little story reveals even
more. It shows two peoples' very different values, and
why what I call "marketing to values" is so much
more important and powerful than is the marketing of

products.

One of the biggest assets in a married couple's relationship, the

diamond engagement ring, might be an emotional asset and a

symbol of love and commitment -- but in the financial sense of
the word, it isn't actually an asset at all.
In fact, it's worth at least 50% less than you paid for it the
moment you left the jewelry store. Makes you wince a little,
doesn't it?more
So, how do they get more people to buy big diamonds in a bad
economy? They needed to figure out a way to link diamonds
with something emotional. And because diamonds weren't
worth much inherently, they also had to keep people from ever
reselling them. What was emotional, socially valuable, and
eternal? Love and marriage. Bingo.
According to New York Times, N.W. Ayer's game plan was
to "create a situation where almost every person pledging
marriage feels compelled to acquire a diamond engagement
ring."
The concept of an engagement ring had existed since medieval
times, but it had never been widely adopted. And before World
War II, only 10% of engagement rings contained diamonds.
With a carefully executed marketing strategy, N.W. Ayer could
strengthen the tradition of engagement rings and transform
public opinion about diamonds -- from precious stones to
essential parts of courtship and marriage. Eventually, Ayer
would convince young men that diamonds are the ultimate gift
of love, and young women that they're an essential part of
romantic relationships.