De Beers is on a journey to transform itself into a purpose-led brand: Toranj Mehta

Established in 1888, De Beers is the world’s leading diamond company, with unrivaled expertise in the discovery and selection of diamonds, offering a range of jewellery through its two jewellery houses.

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The brand recently rolled out its new global campaign celebrating commitment and purpose. The campaign is centered on commitments to ourselves, to one another and the wider world. Giving the statement ‘I Do’ a more collective act of intent, towards a better, brighter future, the campaign marks a fresh, purpose-led brand strategy and new chapter in the company’s 133-year long history. The campaign features a wide range of diamond jewellery from across its two houses, De Beers Jewelers and De Beers Forevermark, as symbols of these promises – particularly meaningful because of the company’s own commitments to sustainability and responsible practices.

Speaking to Adgully, Toranj Mehta, Director - Marketing, De Beers Forevermark, speaks at length about the creation of the ‘I Do’ campaign, engaging with consumers across geographies, outlook for 2022, and more.

Looks like this print campaign is based on some strong research insights. How was the key insight derived and where did it come from?

De Beers is on a journey to transform itself into a consumer centric, purpose-led brand that inspires desire for De Beers natural diamonds. Purpose is important to our customers, who increasingly seek out and pay more for luxury brands that are working to make the world a better place.

Our recent research, captured in the latest Diamond Insight Report, confirms this. Research conducted among more than 8,400 consumers in key diamond markets globally found that jewellery now ranks third after only food and clothing as the category most frequently purchased on the basis of sustainability considerations.

De Beers launched a new global campaign with the aim of driving awareness, relevance and desire for De Beers and its Jewellery Houses. This campaign marks a fresh, iconic and modern new chapter for the brand. De Beers aims to take a traditional statement representing commitment and symbolised through diamonds to a bold new place.

What is the purpose and the end objective of this campaign? Who are you targeting through this print campaign?

This campaign marked a fresh and iconic new chapter for the brand. De Beers aims to take a traditional statement representing commitment and symbolised through diamonds to a bold new place. Whilst print has a large percentage of spend other media are also being extensively used.

This campaign is about expanding the meaning of the two iconic words ‘I do.’ in a powerful, authentic and unexpected way. The statement ‘I do.’ is one of the most significant and time-honoured expressions of intent. But ‘I do.’ can mean much more than a romantic commitment to someone else. Today, ‘I do.’ embodies a new generation of consumers, who value commitments not only through timeless wedding vows, but to all the things they care about – love, friendship, family, passion, society, nature and more.

The ‘I do’ campaign speaks about the commitment the new generation, millennial and Gen Z consumers believe, making them the core target for the campaign. With the campaign, the commitment is re-imagined and extended to mean so much more.

How did you translate your consumer insights into a campaign idea? Can you elaborate the campaign idea?

In today’s world, the words ‘I do’ mean much more. They symbolise a commitment towards oneself and to what one believes in. Additionally, women no longer wait for a man to purchase their diamond, they are independent and make their own decisions. Keeping these factors in mind, the campaign thought was developed.

What is going to be your engagement strategy with your audience? How do you plan to work on the media strategy for the India market to deliver your message to the right audience?

We have invested this campaign in all our key markets with top media avenues. So, there has been a sizeable amount of investment in traditional media of print, online, social media, out-of-home and digital videos for us to engage with our audience in Tier 1, 2 and 3 markets. The campaign will be incorporated as our key messaging across 2022 and all our launches planned for the Indian market.

How do you plan to measure the effectiveness of this campaign? What is the duration of this campaign and in how many countries you plan to run this campaign?

We measure the effectiveness through our brand research as well as other information areas on digital and social to help us understand the effectiveness of the campaign.

The campaign will be incorporated as our key messaging across 2022 and all our launches across India, China, US, UK, UAE and all our markets globally.

What is the outlook for De Beers in the year 2022 – both globally and India?

We plan to continue with this campaign for the long term globally. While our goal is to grow the brand and the business, we will be focusing on increasing our footprint online and offline with our exclusive stores and e-commerce business.