De Beers, Your Desperateness Is Showing: What Happens When Western Luxury Meets Indian Sentiment – and Misses the Mark!!

Yesterday was Friendship Day, and very soon it’ll be Raksha Bandhan – that ever-resonant Indian celebration of love between brothers and sisters. Festivals like these are sacred, emotional... and yes, highly monetizable. And as always, brands want to climb onto the gravy train – chasing eyeballs, engagement, and, of course, money moolah. Fogg tried the brother-sister track for the first time. But not to be left behind, the elephant in the diamond room – De Beers – made its move too.

Nostalgia or Strategy?

Yesterday, De Beers unveiled its “Best from Bestie” campaign – in vintage black-and-white sepia tones, aiming to tap into the nostalgia of old-school friendship. But look closer, and you’ll see the play is deeper.

DeBeers tried it all. Gifting a diamond on the birth of a baby, Daughter getting a diamond from her  Father, Lovers for ever strategy and even a daring I, Me myself tack where a woman can gift herself a diamond! 

De Beers has long tried to crack the Indian market, but with limited success. India remains gold-obsessed, and De Beers’ "diamond forever" proposition hasn’t quite struck gold. Their previous “father-daughter gifting” angle fizzled – mostly because, let’s face it, in Indian households, gifting control lies with the mother. Dad is just a debit card. Or now, a UPI app.

So what next? Shift the lens. Enter: friendship day meets Raksha Bandhan gifting – with a 35+ women-centric campaign that walks a very thin line between intimate friendship and coded lesbian overtones.

Target Missed?

Of course, the LGBTQ+ audience might feel seen – and that’s a win. But what about the general consumer? The average Indian family watching ETV Win – a bastion of traditional entertainment – is left confused or worse, alienated. And then there’s the Western couple shown in the campaign. Aspirational? Possibly. Relevant to Indian gifting dynamics? That’s debatable.

The question isn’t whether the campaign is inclusive or bold. The real question is: Who is it for? Why push a message that doesn’t align with the behaviors, beliefs, or spending patterns of the core consumer base?

Final Thought

Some might accuse me of reading too much into an ad. But isn't that what an academician, researcher and a marketing blogger is supposed to do? Ask the uncomfortable questions, open the debate, and push brands to think deeper than surface-level sentiment? Because nostalgia may sell, but misplaced messaging? That’s a harder gem to polish.

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Can De Beers Diamonds Deliver Dramatic Dent in Gold Demand?

Most of my students read the ad and became sentimental. They went gaga over the father—how he was treating his daughter like a princess, how he was trying to break a stereotype, how he considered her a princess, and how he wanted to gift her a diamond on her 16th birthday.  Satiated, they fell back into their seats.  Their faces had the expression of a cat that had a bowl full of cream and was supremely happy.

I said, “Yes, very good. All that you said was seeing the trees and missing the forests. Do you really think that De Beers is the Government of India to fight for girl and women empowerment? Did any of you see the business angle? Every company is looking to make money. It is all about money. How does this ad make sense considering that DeBeers would have spent 40 Lakh rupees in putting out this advertisement?”

A whopping Rs 1,65,000 crores worth, or 802.8 tonnes of gold was consumed by India in 2024. Industry estimates say that diamond sales in India are only 20% of the gold sales. Just like Thums Up dominating Coke in India, in all other markets Coke is an undisputed king. Similarly, only in India do diamonds play second fiddle to gold in a country that worships the yellow metal.

DeBeers is the market leader in the diamond business and would like to have a bigger share in the very lucrative Rs 1,65,000 crore worth of sales that gold generates in India. India has always been a gold country, and the attraction is that gold is seen as a hedge against inflation and as Stree Dhan (a lady’s wealth), wealth that belongs to the lady (mother, wife, daughter). Gold is also seen as an excellent investment that offers a great return on investment.

Diamonds don’t have the above attractions for Indian women. It is only seen as an ornament that is used as part of gold jewelry. That is the perception that De Beers wants to change. Think of diamonds when you earlier thought about gold. A girl's birth, first birthday, first day at school, a girl attaining puberty, engagement, marriage, etc. Thus, this ad campaign of DeBeers is to change perceptions about diamonds. It is positioning itself straight against gold.

Similarly, in the 70s and 80s, motorcycle riders  in the USA had a macho image and an image of negativity because of movies and popular culture. The riders were huge, had tattoos, wore leather clothes, and were shown as tough people. Movies like Mad Max heightened and reinforced the image of this ultra-tough, macho bad man. Regular customers were shying away from motorcycles.

Honda wanted to change this perception and came out with a path-breaking campaign. "You meet the nicest people on a Honda." This campaign, where Honda showed people from different walks of life, aka respectable people, riding a Honda motorcycle, went a long way in changing the perception of a motorcycle being a  mode of transport of tough, bad people. De Beers is trying to do the same with its campaign: change perceptions. In a way, it is a generic campaign that will benefit all diamond sellers, and as a market leader, De Beers would profit the most.

De Beers, too has tried the perception change campaigns in the past. One of its iconic campaigns was the “A diamond is forever” campaign, but that focuses mostly on the engagement and the marriage segment. But in India, it is trying to trigger the heartstrings of the breadwinner, the father, assuming that he will do anything for the apple of his eyes - his daughter!

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