A New Way to Get Millennials interested in diamonds!

Let’s face it…Millennials have shown little interest in buying diamonds. A big part of the blame can be placed on how diamonds are marketed. There is no excitement, no romance; nothing to capture the attention of this important demographic. Online databases brag about ease of searching, mobile capability and low prices but they have been missing the mark. DeBeers, through its Forevermark brand, is bringing back the highly successful “A diamond is forever” campaign. But that has little chance of capturing the hearts of Millennials. It belongs to their grandparent’s generation and they won’t fall for that old, hackneyed slogan.

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But there is hope. Finally, someone gets it and has an idea of what Millennials want. They want a story, they want personalisation, and most of all they want to share their experience with their friends. Jacques Voorhees, founder of Polygon and CEO of Verichannel had his eyes opened in a conversation with his 23 year old son Alex while showing him how diamonds are sold on various online databases:

“Dad, this is boring. Is this really how diamonds are being sold? A long ugly list like this? Really?”

“Yes, that is how diamonds are sold. What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s not visually exciting. It’s like having to do homework or something. Does anyone find that fun, looking through lists of alpha-numeric characters on hundreds of diamonds? Seriously?”

“Well, I’m not sure it needs to be fun. It’s how people find the best price.”

“I’m not sure that should be the goal, finding the best price. I think the goal should be to make it fun.”

His son recognized that on a database all the diamonds appear to be the same but that in reality they are as different as snowflakes. And the reasons for buying one are different as well. Each one has its own history and each purchase has its own story.

We need to let that story out. What’s being emphasized are things like VS1 and VS2. We need to emphasize the story, the emotions. That’s more important, and far more interesting, than the gemmological stuff.”

That conversation led to the creation of the Museum of Named Diamonds, a place where consumers can register a name for their own diamond and share a story and artwork of the meaning behind their diamond. The chairman of the Museum’s Board of Governors and past president of GIA, Bill Boyajian states:

“Consumers have for far too long focused on grading reports and commodity-like pricing when it comes to diamonds. It’s time to move the conversation back to diamonds as a unique symbol of love, to connect the diamond to the precious relationship it represents. This is the goal of the Museum of Named Diamonds.”

The program is open to consumers and retailers through Nymify, a commercial entity that helps create the name, the artwork, and the story.

It’s fun, it’s personal, it can be shared online. And most of all…it’s not just a boring list of technical specifications; it is romance. This may be the right concept to get Millennials interested in diamonds.

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