Kayla Sanger

Case 3:De Beers Group: Marketing Diamonds to Millennials

Problem and Environment:

When it comes to engagement traditions many consumers purchased diamonds to give as an

engagement ring as a token of commitment. Millennials have shown different preferences than the
previous generations when it comes to becoming engaged and married. One of the millennials differing
preferences has to do with the importance of diamonds. Millennials have differing lifecycle stages and
purchasing power than previous generations which greatly impacts this issue. The De Beers Group of
Companies, a well-known company in the global diamond industry, had the goal of trying to persuade
millennials that diamonds still represent a significant symbol of commitment. De Beers created a
campaign and partnered with the world’s six other leading diamond companies to help change the
mindset of millennials. They will see if their marketing endeavors will be a success and if they can
eventually encourage the sales of diamonds the this changing world.

Theses aspects must be understood by De Beers to assist with campaign and marketing endeavors
 Millennials valued experiences over physical goods such as diamonds
 Millennials’ relatively lower purchasing power and higher debt levels, partly due to higher
education costs and challenging job markets resulting from the financial crises of the 2000s
 Millennials are getting married later in life than their parents and grandparents, or not getting
married at all, in 2014, only 28%of millennials were married; in contrast, at the same age,
40% of baby boomers were married
 Millennials have significant concerns related to both environmental sustainability and social
responsibility
 Millennials have a more skeptical view on premium jewelry, prefer more personalized products
 second-hand market for engagement rings is also increasing
 Millennials consider synthetic diamonds(cost 20% less) , moissanite and other precious gems as
engagement rings

De Beers needs to understand that whatever they do with their campaign and marketing efforts they
need to keep millennials preferences, purchasing power, and lifecycle stage in mind.

Reasonable Alternatives

 De Beers could create a campaign focused on how they get their diamonds and have them come
from a socially economically positive way and without abusing human rights. Millennials care
about the environment and social responsibility therefore this would show them diamonds
represent not only love but don’t have a very negative relationship with the environment or
human’s rights. By showing the consumers these diamonds these facts it could combat all the
negative news around diamonds or “blood diamonds”.
 De Beers could create a way to personalize your diamond engagement rings. This would erase
the stereotype of the common diamond ring which millennials don’t prefer.
 De Beers could try to eliminate cost in their production or operational cost of producing the
diamonds to help lower the overall cost. Millennials have less purchasing power then previous
generations therefore the cheaper the diamond might persuade them to choose a real diamond

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 over fake. They could also set up payment plans to purchase a real diamond to go along with
their real is rare campaign.

Recommendations:
I recommend that De Beers focuses on trying to reduce the price of their diamonds and set up
payment plans along with their real is rare campaign. If they focus on promoting how “true” (or mined)
diamonds are the ultimate symbol of emotional commitment between millennials while making them
affordable it could have a better connection with millennials. They could stress how diamonds are the
ultimate symbol of love and now they are not out of your price range. For many millennials struggling
with college debt and finding a job this could sway them back to choosing diamonds for their
engagement ring.

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