De Beers Group and Signet Jewelers, advancing their joint strategy revealed earlier this year to boost the demand for natural diamonds, on Tuesday launched a marketing campaign targeting diverse couples and younger demographics getting engaged.
The new campaign, titled “Worth the Wait” and created by the Arnold Worldwide agency, focuses on Millennials and Gen Z, as well as Zillennials, a more narrow demographic typically born between 1993 and 1998.
“The core idea was to take our Signet consumer insights and begin to build messaging to customers about what is so real, rare and precious about natural diamonds,” Jamie Singleton, Signet Jewelers group president and chief consumer officer, told WWD. “We see this as ongoing messaging and an educational process to a new generation of soon-to-be engaged customers. I believe the campaign has legs. We’re not putting an ending on it.”
Singleton said Signet research shows that next year, more than 50 percent of couples who get engaged in the U.S. will be multicultural, and over the next five years, it climbs to about 60 percent. “So we were very focused on making this [campaign] relevant to the generation that is about to be engaged,” Singleton said. African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, whites, and the LBGT community are included, she said.
“Gen Z and Millennials are quite different from the previous generation which was very much focused on everlasting love. But what matters to Gen Z and Millennials is building their own identity and then being ready to find ‘the one.’ That’s what we feature in the ads,” said Sandrine Conseiller, chief executive officer of De Beers Brands. The campaign, Conseiller added, suggests a parallel between two journeys — the formation of natural diamonds over billions of years deep in the Earth and ultimately transformed into polished gems, and young people transforming their own lives as they strive to reach personal goals and form relationships.
“The earth is 4.5 billion years old. Natural diamonds are more than 3 billions old. So they’re the oldest things you can possess,” said Conseiller. “A natural diamond is coming from 200 to 800 kilometers deep in the Earth, and it’s brought to the surface by an eruption of magma. So the natural diamond is pressure tested — like couples can be.”
While images of volcanic eruption are in the campaign, Singleton said, “The consumer is at the heart of this. This is very much focused on soon-to-be-engaged couples, and helping them see the value in having a natural diamond in their engagement ring.” The campaign helps customers understand the difference between natural and lab-grown diamonds, she said.
The campaign features a 90-second long-form video as well as two 30-second and two 15-second spots. They will run nationally across social media, online platforms and across Signet’s Jared, Kay and Zales banners via online video, social media and storefronts.
To further bolster its diamond offering, for the holiday season Signet is offering three new collections. Kay Jewelers is launching “Milestones,” for rings, pendants and earrings. Jared is launching “Chosen” which offers, as Singleton said, “very high quality natural diamonds, unique center stone shapes and interesting settings. These are one-of-a-kind rings in natural diamonds.” Jared is also launching “Unspoken,” another collection of natural diamond pendants, earrings and necklaces. The collections will be in Jared and Kay stores and online by the end of October.
Signet claims it’s the world’s largest seller of diamonds, but does not specify the dollar volume.
Signet continues to offer lab-grown diamonds. “We see those as an opportunity in fashion, to put into bigger looks,” Singleton said. Industry-wide, lab-grown diamond sales have been gaining popularity and cut into the natural diamond business, but as Singleton said, “We’re seeing the engagement business recover from the COVID dip.”
For the second fiscal quarter, Signet reported sales of $1.5 billion, down 7.6 percent; same-store sales were down 3.4 percent. However, gross margins expanded 10 basis points to 38 percent of sales.
The collaboration between Signet and De Beers is part of De Beers’ “Origins” strategy, which aims to increase the demand for natural diamonds. De Beers is also partnering with other jewelry retailers such as Chow Tai Fook in China on the strategy. Not long ago, Sally Morrison was named natural diamonds lead in the U.S. for De Beers. She’s worked with De Beers in different roles since 2002. “This is a pivotal time for the natural diamond category,” Morrison said at the time of her appointment. “I look forward to working with partners and constituents from across our industry to tell the next generation of consumers the incredible story of natural diamonds.”
Also this year, Signet’s 20,000 sales associates underwent special training so they can improve their abilities to communicate the unique features of natural diamonds to customers.
The Signet portfolio of brands also includes Banter by Piercing Pagoda, Diamonds Direct, Blue Nile, James Allen, Rocksbox, Peoples Jewellers, H. Samuel, and Ernest Jones. The company operates a total of about 2,700 stores.
