The Forevermark “Icon” setting is one of the styles available in the brand’s new “Engagement & Commitment Collection,” which will launch this summer and will be supported by a new bridal-focused marketing campaign, “I Take You, Until Forever.”
Las Vegas—Forevermark will put its marketing dollars behind bridal this year, running an ad campaign designed to reflect “modern” love and supplying jewelers with what they’ve asked for—a line of smaller, lower-priced engagement rings.
At the brand’s annual breakfast in Las Vegas, Forevermark U.S. President Charles Stanley acknowledged that women who buy their own diamond jewelry still represent the fastest-growing segment of the market; Forevermark marketed to them last year, pushing the fashion-forward “Tribute” and “Alchemy” collections.
This year, however, the brand will focus on bridal, launching a couple-centric campaign paired with the new “Forevermark Engagement & Commitment Collection.”
Screened at the breakfast, the two-minute film for “I Take You, Until Forever” features six couples. Three of them are pairs in real life—not actors—and the film includes one couple who already has a child together as well as a lesbian couple, the first gay couple featured in Forevermark advertising.
Stanley noted in presenting the film in Las Vegas that Forevermark recognizes marriage is no longer a necessity, and that many couples are not tying the knot until after buying home or having a child together. (Signet Jewelers CEO Gina Drosos cited a statistic at last year’s JCK Las Vegas show that 40 percent of engaged couples today already have children.)
This is another style in the “Forevermark Engagement & Commitment Collection,” the “Unity” ring featuring an oval center stone in 18-karat yellow gold. The collection also includes round and cushion-cut diamonds as well as wedding bands.
This means couples today must balance the cost of their engagement ring against other expenses, like mortgages and child care.
Stanley added that they also don’t have the same strong emotional connection to diamonds as their predecessors, but they do want to pick a diamond that is personal to them and their relationship.
He said: “Forever is no longer a fairy tale ending and is, instead, created through the commitments that a couple makes to one another daily. Today, couples feel that ‘my’ diamond means everything to them, and over time, it gains more meaning and is a constant reminder of an ongoing partnership.”
The two-minute film for “I Take You, Until Forever” will launch in early July and continue to run on-air and online through the holiday season. The film will be shortened for TV and digital, and there will be print assets as well, all of which will be available to Forevermark retailers.
accompanying collection of bridal jewelry, the “Forevermark Engagement & Commitment Collection,” has center stones ranging from 0.30 to 1 carat, and retail prices start at $2,400 and go up to $15,000. For some styles, larger center stones will be available upon request.
It is the first collection fully produced by (in partnership with jewelry manufacturers) and branded as Forevermark, with the company’s logo stamped on the inside of each band.
The rings will be featured on Forevermark.com but will not be sold there; instead, the website will direct consumers to their local Forevermark-carrying jeweler.
First Lady of the Republic of Botswana Neo Jane Masisi opened the annual Forevermark breakfast, held May 30 at The Venetian in Las Vegas.
Prior to Stanley’s address, Forevermark’s Las Vegas breakfast opened with a special guest speaker—the First Lady of the Republic of Botswana, Neo Jane Masisi.
Masisi accompanied her husband, Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi, to Vegas, where he delivered the opening keynote address for the JCK Las Vegas show on Friday.
In a speech that drew warm applause and laughter throughout, Masisi talked about her personal journey—she started her professional career as an accountant at Jwaneng, one of Botswana’s diamond mines—and what diamonds have meant to her, both in her personal life and as a resident of a country that has leveraged the natural resource to lift itself, and its residents, out of poverty.
“Millions of other Batswana have, like me, had the opportunity to develop their talents and grow their interests thanks to the opportunities that diamonds have provided,” she said. “We have been a society that has flourished because of diamonds that have been managed in prudent style.”
Michelle Graffis the editor-in-chief at National Jeweler, directing the publication’s coverage both online and in print.
