SourcingAug 29, 2024
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Sally Morrison Takes on Larger Role as De Beers Zeros In On Category Marketing
The company is poised to make a big push for natural diamonds this holiday season.
Veteran marketer Sally Morrison has taken on a new, expanded role with De Beers Group as natural diamonds market lead for the U.S.
London—De Beers Group has tapped an industry veteran to head its return to large-scale category marketing in the United States after more than a decade.
Sally Morrison will spearhead the effort in her new role as natural diamonds market lead for the U.S., while also taking charge of category marketing efforts globally on an interim basis.
An extension of her duties as De Beers’ director of public relations for natural diamonds, this new, larger role will see Morrison continue to lead De Beers’ joint campaign with Signet, which she said will launch shortly.
She’s also heading development of a new fourth-quarter natural diamond advertising campaign for the industry at large, building on what De Beers did in Q4 2023.
The goal of both campaigns is to inspire people to fall in love with natural diamond jewelry.
“There are some things, historically, that we think De Beers has done really well and one of them is understanding deep consumer insights and how to map them against consumers in a modern and relevant way,” Morrison said.
“We’re going to continue to do that in close partnership with people in the trade, whether it’s Signet or other retailers.”
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Sally Morrison will spearhead the effort in her new role as natural diamonds market lead for the U.S., while also taking charge of category marketing efforts globally on an interim basis.
An extension of her duties as De Beers’ director of public relations for natural diamonds, this new, larger role will see Morrison continue to lead De Beers’ joint campaign with Signet, which she said will launch shortly.
She’s also heading development of a new fourth-quarter natural diamond advertising campaign for the industry at large, building on what De Beers did in Q4 2023.
The goal of both campaigns is to inspire people to fall in love with natural diamond jewelry.
“There are some things, historically, that we think De Beers has done really well and one of them is understanding deep consumer insights and how to map them against consumers in a modern and relevant way,” Morrison said.
“We’re going to continue to do that in close partnership with people in the trade, whether it’s Signet or other retailers.”
De Beers focus on generic category marketing is a reprise of the activity the company did years ago via the Diamond Promotion Service/Diamond Information Center accounts at advertising agency J. Walter Thompson (JWT).
Around 2011, the company abandoned category advertising in favor of promoting its own brand, Forevermark.
Morrison, who had been with JWT for nearly a decade, left to join De Beers as chief marketing officer for Forevermark.
Morrison also has category marketing experience outside of diamonds.
She worked as colored gemstone miner Gemfields’ director of marketing and sales for a little over a year and spent three years with the World Gold Council as managing director for jewelry.
She also was the first managing director of marketing for the Diamond Producers Association, the predecessor to the Natural Diamond Council.
“Sally’s unrivalled experience and deep understanding of the natural diamond landscape will help us to accelerate our ambitions as we continue to roll out our ‘Origins’ strategy and demonstrate how nature’s most extraordinary creations can fulfill our greatest aspirations,” De Beers Brands CEO Sandrine Conseiller said.
“I’m looking forward to working with Sally and our partners to connect the modern consumer to the beautiful, unique and rare qualities of these most precious stones and grow the diamond dream in the U.S. and beyond.”
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