A Tagline is Forever…

I’ve had a little time to think over the announcement made at the recent JCK Las Vegas show that Forevermark, the diamond brand from De Beers, will now be using that most famous of all advertising taglines, “A Diamond is Forever” as part of its brand strategy.

The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve wondered why the company decided to move in this direction. There’s no doubt it’s a brilliant tagline – Advertising Age named it the “Slogan of the Century” in 1999 – beating out Nike’s call to action “Just do it” and Coke’s “The pause that refreshes” for the top spot.

However, it was the bes slogan of last century and I wonder if this return to the past is yet another example of something we have written about a number of times – the inability of the industry to move forward and to attract younger (namely Millennial) consumers.

But perhaps I am wrong, and perhaps the decade-long break since De Beers stopped its custodian marketing position and since when the phrase has pretty much been on ice is enough to make the slogan seem fresh and appealing to those consumers looking to make their first foray into the diamond-buying world.

As Forevermark CEO Stephen Lussier said in announcing the launch (or relaunch), the company was, “thrilled to bring this incredible equity back to Forevermark where it truly belongs. After all, our name is built on the line.  But it is not enough to simply bring it back. We need to recharge it with meaning and most importantly fuse it with the Forevermark brand promise.”

The brand hopes to begin this recharging with a new integrated campaign that will debut with a television commercial spot, “Forevermark: A Diamond Is Forever”. The 15- and 30-second television spots will feature a solitaire diamond engagement ring and will run on broadcast and cable networks.

That’s great, and I can’t wait to see what I am sure will be a slick, beautiful and romantic slot. However, I can’t help but wonder whether it is going to be advertising in the right place. A 2013 report by Poynter reported that a third (34%) of Millennials (the very demographic I assume Forevermark is chasing) do not even bother with TV and watched shows mostly online, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that number has gone up in the last couple of years or so. This means that a lot of the very demographic Forevermark wants to buy its jewelry is not going to be seeing the on television, so let’s hope that “integrated” also means a really strong media advertising campaign (as I am sure it does) and that the ads are also shown on other platforms.

Taking the issue in another director, as Rob Bates over at JCK commented, the slogan really only works when talking about all the diamonds, not just some (i.e. Forevermark) stones – does this mean that only Forevermark stones are forever? What about other diamonds? Are they now in some way tainted with a lack of foreverness?

In addition, Rob wonders if De Beers shouldn’t let the new Diamond Producers Association (DPA), which is launching its activities in the near future, use the tagline? After all, he points out, the DPA may well want to distinguish mined stones from lab-grown stones in the future and this slogan would work perfectly for that job.

But handing over such a great advertising line, even to a group that it is a part of, seems to me a step too far. After all, De Beers didn’t want to be responsible for marketing diamonds for everyone anymore – those days are long gone.

Diamonds may be forever, and it seems that this slogan is too – no matter who uses it.

Have a fabulous weekend.