The Great Diamond Story

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Diamonds are considered the most expensive gemstones in the world, they are associated with high social status and prestige, however, their value presents a rather interesting story that can show this beautiful trinket in a completely different light.

Each story has its main character, in this case it is Cecil Rhodes, the organizer of the colonization of South Africa by England. In 1817, Rhodes decided to buy huge tracts of land in South Africa, after which he founded a diamond mining company. The man saw the potential in this diamond business and for the next 17 years he continued to develop it.

During this time, he managed to displace competitors from all over Africa, thanks to the purchase of their lands for an incredibly high amount of 1.5 million pounds, borrowed from Nathan Rothschild.

Such huge plans resulted in the fact that at the beginning of the twentieth century, the company we are talking about – De Beers controlled more than 85% of the global diamond market. Cecil Rhodes understood that diamonds are very expensive because of their rarity, but he noticed that this commodity is not scarce at all, on the contrary, it literally saturates the market.

Then the founder of the business decided that since he was a monopolist on the market, he could independently determine the price of their goods. He did it in a very cunning way, creating an artificial deficit by putting into circulation only modest batches of stones, hiding all the rest for several years.

In this way, they made diamonds a luxury commodity that only wealthy people could afford, and the middle and working classes could not even imagine spending money on such a luxury.

The way of enrichment invented by De Beers marketers can be considered the best in the history of advertising, due to the fact that they created a vision in people’s minds, and the best thing about this is that people had no idea about this cunning manipulation.

The company decided to broaden its horizons, cooperating with Hollywood film studios, they created engagement scenes in films, where the main character was a diamond ring.

In the face of a completely new trend, the working and middle class were forced to patiently save in order to be able to prove their love one day with a diamond ring as big as that feeling.

After a few years, the company’s sales increased by 70%, and the management did not rest on its laurels. Another advertising campaign created the impression that diamonds are like art when they were shown in magazines right next to photos of famous paintings, artists or models.

When in 1947 De Beers introduced its official slogan, registering the name “Diamonds are eternal”, they literally sealed their victory. The whole community has known for generations that diamonds are a luxury, and the fashion for them has not changed to this day, it persists and is associated only with the best.

One thought on “The Great Diamond Story

  1. 46340 says:

    Great story! However a discovery from 1955 may change this market. I am talking about synthetic diamonds. The only difference is that they come from a lab and not from the soil but the difference in price is equal to almost 50%. This might be a game changer for many people.

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