Africa-Press – Botswana. Global diamond mining giant, De Beers Group, is reintroducing its iconic ‘A Diamond is Forever’ tagline, unleashing a $20 million (P272 million) investment to support consumer demand in natural diamonds for the 2023 holiday season in the US and China.
The announcement comes at a time when the diamond industry is negatively affected by the weaker macroeconomic environment especially in some of the main diamond consuming countries, according to De Beers’ insights report for 2023 released last week. With three months left before 2023 ends, the report says consumer demand for natural diamonds is expected to be below the record levels seen in 2021 and 2022.
Through its subsidiary, De Beers Global Sightholder Sales (DGSS), the mining company hosts rough diamond sales 10 times a year that are also known as ‘Sights’ in Gaborone. DGSS sells around 90 per cent of De Beers Group’s rough diamonds, by value, via term contracts to customers. The other 10 percent is sold via De Beers Group Auctions.
To date, De Beers’ rough diamond sales value in the seven sales sights that have been held fell by 27 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2022. Rough diamond prices are also steadily falling, down by 2 percent year on year.
“The $20 million investment will be used to support a broad media mix in the US and China, targeting end clients with an energetic ‘just in time message’ for the major gift giving holiday season. The campaign will include traditional media – print, out of home, and digital – and a robust investment into influencer-developed content ensuring the key attributes of natural diamonds are conveyed in an engaging and relevant way,” De Beers said in a statement.
Furthermore, De Beers confirmed that a recent Lightbox lab-grown diamond (LGD) engagement ring test has now ended. Through the test the company said it deepened its understanding of LGDs and evaluated the changing landscape and consumer perceptions associated with them.
“Lightbox will continue to focus on where it sees the most promising future opportunities in the sector – in fashion jewellery and in loose stones at accessible price points – and will not sell LGD engagement rings,” the company added.
“Further, the engagement ring test reinforced existing insights into the wider LGD sector that indicate the commercial proposition for many LGD engagement ring offers is likely unsustainable, with retailers already needing to double the number of LGD carats sold every two years just to maintain a flat absolute gross profit.”
De Beers’ most recent consumer survey data for the US and China sees natural diamonds ranked in the top three most desired luxury items for women to acquire. In the US, four in five women see natural diamonds as carrying significant meaning and being the perfect way to mark an important moment in a relationship, while the primary motivation for LGD purchases is price. Four times as many luxury jewellery consumers state they would choose natural diamonds for special occasions compared with those choosing LGDs, while more than three and a half times as many say they would be proud to wear natural diamonds compared with those who would be proud to wear LGDs. “Natural diamonds have remained icons of love for centuries. And De Beers advertising has remained iconic over the decades. We’re proud to build on this tradition by reviving and refreshing one of our most successful campaigns. By investing ahead of the holiday season, we aim to support the industry, drive consumer demand and underline our confidence in the future of the diamond dream,” said Al Cook, the chief executive officer of De Beers Group.
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