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DPS holiday: Back to basics with 26 percent boost

October 10, 2007

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New York—This holiday season, the Diamond Promotion Service (DPS) is hoping to strike a traditional chord with consumers, returning to that old diamond refrain, "forever."

In a presentation this morning at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, representatives from JWT's DPS and the Diamond Information Center (DIC) outlined a strategy that represents a 26 percent bump over holiday 2006 and a 12 percent increase over the fourth quarter last year. In accordance with its usual policy, the group declined to reveal how much it would spend on marketing and would only offer percentages.

"We want to continue five consecutive years of value growth with another great Christmas," said Claudia Rose, senior partner and industry strategy director for the DPS.

While the theme of the program, "This Christmas, Promise Forever," focuses strongly on messages of the past, it will lean most heavily on the newest "beacon" program, Journey Diamond Jewelry. The centerpiece of the media plan is a new 30-second spot that features the Journey S-curve pendant (also featured in last year's ad, which will run again this holiday).

The commercial, called "Drive Home," is still being prepared, but a rough video-storyboard of the ad was shown during the presentation.

It will feature a couple, in their mid 40s, driving home on a snowy night in Manhattan. While observing his wife's beauty at a stoplight, the man surreptitiously presents the diamond jewelry to his wife when they hold hands. The ad has the tag line: "Love is a journey that knows no end."

The integrated media campaign will also include print, outdoor or out-of-home, radio and online advertising as well as public relations. In addition to Journey, diamond right-hand rings, three-stone and staple diamond-jewelry pieces will also be promoted. The DPS is also developing a new Christmas micro-site at Adiamondisforever.com.

Getting consumer attention could be particularly challenging this year, Rose said, as the jewelry industry competes not only with other luxury products but basic necessities.

"We need to consider what's happening to people's wallets. They're overextended in terms of credit, there's been a burst of the housing bubble, there's also a lot of news from interesting competitive products," she said. "The middle class has a lot of competing demands for their disposable dollars, and we know it's going to be a Christmas where we'll have to work very hard to make it the best ever."

The campaigns will take subtle swipes at consumer electronics, which were a major competitor last year, by showing diamond jewelry with tag lines such as "No tech support required."

Even as the growth in the category has come from the luxury consumer—with price points up and transactions down—retailers depend heavily on the middle-range shopper during the holiday season, said David Sisson, director of market intelligence for DPS.

"Seventy percent of the pieces bought at Christmas cost under $500, a price point that targets [the mass consumer] household income," he said. "So it’s important that jewelry retailers are at the top of their game this holiday season to compete with other products in other categories that are using innovation to compete at these price points."

With that in mind, other elements to this year's program include a collaboration with publisher Condé Nast on its "Movies Rock" promotion, which celebrates the link between movies and music. That partnership includes a four-page diamond-jewelry insert with actress Halle Berry in Condé Nast magazines, a contest to win diamond jewelry by Harry Winston (worn by Berry in the ad) and a concert.

Members of the trade can visit the DPS Web site, DPS.org, for more information on the campaign and to download support materials.
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