Right-Hand Ring Creates a New Market

When I first saw the campaign from the diamond industry for the right-hand ring, I wasn't that impressed. Now, several months later (after many repeated, consistent impressions) I think that it is a brilliant marketing concept.

The diamond industry owns the market of women's left-hand ring fingers. Practically every married woman in the world has a diamond ring on that finger.

Given this near-monopoly position, what do the giants of the gem industry do? Do these rich cats simply sit contentedly and allow the profits to accrue? No ... of course not! The diamond industry goes out and creates a whole new market.

The diamond industry tells the world that every woman (all women - not just the married ones) needs a diamond ring for her right hand!

This is pure brilliance, I say. Like all great marketing campaigns, its brilliance exists in layers of genius. Let's peel this campaign apart.

The diamond industry has just fabricated a new market with hundreds of millions of potential customers. How many right-hand, female ring fingers are alive today? In 2004, the diamond industry says that it wants to sell you another ring ... for your right hand. You deserve it, after all. C'mon, raise your right hand if you deserve one.

It has reached out to embrace all women ... single women, divorced women, married women, short women, tall women ... all women. Not just engaged-to-be-married women and their fiances.

The campaign says to women: buy it yourself. You no longer have to receive a ring as a gift. Go get a diamond ring for yourself. Wear it on your right hand.

But it's still okay, if you want to drop a hint that you'd like one as a gift. That's fine too. In this sense, the campaign reaches men. Some men will, upon exposure to this campaign, decide on their own to purchase a right-hand ring as a gift.

One criticism - the campaign website is not so great. Visually it's elegant and crisp, but the site is slow to load and transition between screens. Also, its navigation buttons are old java-script code that tends to be clunky and sluggish.

About the campaign (from adiamondisforever.com)
Adiamondisforever.com is an information source on diamonds and is sponsored by the Diamond Trading Company, the world's leading diamond sales and marketing company. Combining promotion with education, adiamondisforever.com exists to help build interest in diamonds among consumers, as well as helping their confidence in the diamond buying process. Adiamondisforever.com does not sell any jewelry featured on the site as the pieces shown are provided by many different manufacturers across the United States.