Got plans for the holidays? Do you know what to buy for your true love? The DTC, naturally, has its recommendations. The marketing arm of De Beers plans to target men in the U.S. during the coming holiday season.

 

The Diamond Trading Company (DTC) plans to back diamond jewelry marketing with an integrated campaign operating across multiple media vehicles. In every way, the program will pose one question: What Will You Do for Love This Christmas?

 

JWT has developed a 4th quarter marketing and communications plan to help the trade increase sales of diamond jewelry during this crucial period.  The “What Will You Do For Love This Christmas?” Campaign will surround consumers with insightful messages.  The goal is to provoke men to seize life’s possibilities and show her just how important she is with a gift of diamond jewelry. 

 

“What Will You Do For Love This Christmas?” tells a story in two sequential television commercials. Between the airings of the two commercials, consumers will follow the story through local radio spots and an interactive experiential website.  The entire campaign will be supported through national newspaper insertions and in out-of-home placements in top diamond jewelry markets.

 

The supported items are Three-Stone Diamond Jewelry, Diamond Right Hand Rings and Solitaire Diamonds.

 

Airport’, the first commercial, will begin running in mid-November. It opens with a man talking on his cell phone in an airport, the date is December 24th and all flights have been cancelled. As snow is swirling outside the upset man says on his cell phone...“ They might have the airport open by tomorrow…no, there’s nothing I can do….I know, honey….I’m disappointed too….you know there’s no place I’d rather be than home….Merry Christmas to you too.”

 

He sits down and takes a box out of a pocket. He opens it and stares at a three-stone diamond necklace inside. He gets up and begins running through the terminal.

 

The commercial ends with “To be continued at adiamondisforever.com.”

 

Consumers logging on to the site will join this man on his journey home.  An interactive map will track the man’s path and visitors will be able to listen to phone conversations as the man slowly tries to make his way home, traveling closer to his wife.

 

The interactive element on adiamondisforever.com is new to the DTC. Visitors to the site will have a chance to win a piece of three-stone diamond jewelry by entering a contest. They will be encouraged to visit the Design Gallery, including hundred of diamond designs appropriate for holiday gifts.

 

Then, during the week of Thanksgiving, the second commercial, “Snowplow”, will run. It opens on a woman who has fallen asleep on the living room couch watching TV.  A reporter is talking about how no one will be able to get through this storm until after Christmas. The woman is awakened by a yellow light flashing through the windows. Through the window she sees a snow plow parked on the curb in front of the house.

 

The snow plow’s door opens, and the man trudges through the snow to the front door. As he walks, he takes a box out of his inside coat pocket and holds it out to her. She opens it and finds the diamond jewelry as he whispers in her ear: “Merry Christmas.”  The voiceover comes on asking “What will you do for love this Christmas?”

 

In addition to “Airport” and “Snowplow,” the DTC will also run its televisions commercials “Hands” and “Steps,” each spotlighting Three-Stone Diamond Jewelry, in the run-up to mid-November. Then, the two new spots will begin their rotation through the holiday period.

 

New this year will be the integration of radio spots in the top 7 diamond jewelry markets which will begin airing after the debut of ‘Airport’.  The radio commercials are bits of the man’s cell phone conversations, coupled with messages from disc jockeys.

 

Other elements of the campaign include six ‘Seize the Day’ ads that will appear in out-of-home placements in four top diamond jewelry markets: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco in December as well as USA Today the week of Thanksgiving.

 

In addition, the DTC’s Diamond Right Hand Ring print ads will continue to run throughout the holiday season.

 

The firm will continue the “Countdown to Christmas” print campaign in national newspapers launched three years ago. The newspaper countdown, which warns men that there are only a few shopping days left before Christmas, will start running December 19 with a variety of messages.