2002

The Diamond Branding Wars

Summer 2002

The battle over the diamond brands has begun. You can already see dueling brands at trade shows. Inspired by De Beers attempts to start its own brands, and encouraged by De Beers to compete (or possibly lose their sight), new brands are springing up every day.

The thinking behind all these brands is to improve margins and give jewelers something to talk about besides price. Take a look at De Beers "Millennium" stones, which tried to fetch 30% to 40% above the list.

Some of these brands show genuine ingenuity and creativity; others are just the same old thing with an extra facet or two and a glitzier wrapping. Yet we wonder whether all these fancy brands will truly make an impact. What do you think most computers would say they‘d want more for their money: more marketing—or more diamond?

Still, this trend isn’t likely to reverse itself anytime soon. Right now, there’s so much going on with branding it’s even confusing and off-putting to us. Let’s hope the people who all this is supposed to appeal to — the consumers — don’t feel the way.