Have you ever wondered how diamonds became a symbol of engagement and marriage? Why drink coffee – or drink it – a global fashion and acquired right, even in the workplace? Do our consumer choices really express us or do they only defend the interests of certain entities? Let us know together the answers in this article.
The coffee break story
There are several accounts of who launched marketing campaigns to promote coffee breaks at work, but it is the most popular and compelling version that is credited with the Pan American Coffee Bureau.
The last century witnessed a great activity in the human rights movement, as many laws were enacted that set workers ’rights and guaranteed them breaks for midday lunches – for example – and the Pan American Coffee Bureau seized the opportunity in 1952 to promote the benefits of drinking coffee during a break, stressing that That this bitter drink helps workers to restore their activity and focus while performing their tasks better .. In this way, the company was keen to win the approval of the employer and the worker alike.
Linking coffee to productivity encouraged everyone to adopt “coffee breaks” (which took its name from marketing campaigns), and this culture moved from the United States of America to all parts of the world, and coffee vending machines spread to most institutions, and the cup of coffee became sacred at work and one of the most important His rituals .. And now the image of coffee on the desk is one of the most documented things on social media!
Diamonds stay forever
Diamonds have always been picturesque, precious and rare stone.
Since its discovery in India thousands of years ago, diamonds have acquired religious and royal dimensions expressing the strength and tyranny of the cultures that I knew, due to its extreme suffering, pure transparency, uncompromising hardness and exceptional rarity.
The value of diamonds has remained high for centuries straight, so how did it reach the rings of the ladies of the middle society?
The discovery of diamond mines in South Africa in the mid-nineteenth century changed the equation, as the sparkling stone that was present only in limited places in the world suddenly became available in large quantities in new mines untouched before.
Everyone wanted to take over the new mines, and large numbers of workers went to the excavation sites to participate in the research .. This would have flooded the global markets with huge quantities of diamonds, which would have led to the collapse of its value due to the imbalance of supply and demand, but this did not happen, it was founded in 1888 De Beers company in South Africa after its owners were able to acquire all the diamond mines in the country. In 1889, British businessman Cecil Rhodes (one of the founders of De Beers) agreed with the Diamond Association in London to sell a limited amount of this precious stone at an agreed price to preserve the scarcity factor, including maintaining its high value and high price.
Despite all this, the diamond trade faced difficult times in the beginning of the twentieth century, especially with the First World War and the Great Depression in 1929.
The deterioration of economic conditions during this period meant that diamonds were not arousing anyone’s appetite, or anyone’s interest .. People could hardly afford to keep what kept them alive, so who would be foolish to spend his money to get a shining stone?
This was a real problem for De Beers. What is the use of taking over the diamond market if not selling it?
In 1938, De Beers turned to the American Marketing Agency N.W. Ayer in search of a way to get everyone to love their engagement rings set with diamonds.
The mission of the marketing agency was to sell a product that no one wanted and wanted no one to buy .. This was not the easiest marketing campaign in history, but it was among the best!
The agency did not use a traditional advertising strategy, as it did not rely in its posters on slogans promoting a specific company or even a specific product, but rather focused on promoting a simple idea and embedding it in everyone’s minds for successive generations to become part of the culture and traditions that are not discussed. The idea is: Diamonds promise eternal love, a symbol of eternal romance, flowers wither and chocolate melt, but diamonds resist time and do not change .. The man who proposes to propose marriage to a girl with a diamond ring signs the eternal charter!
This idea was promoted under the slogan “A diamond is forever”, which was chosen as the best slogan in the twentieth century, and has been used in all marketing campaigns of the company since 1948 and until today!
In 1951, statistics showed that every 8 American women out of 10 received an engagement ring set with diamonds, and this percentage has remained constant for decades … You can imagine the happiness of the owners of De Beers in this matter.
The impact of marketing campaigns on our consumer habits and the details of our daily lives is evident now. Do you think this is enough to change these habits?
