🧠 The Missed Opportunity
“The Roman Empire wasn’t built by holding committee meetings; it was built by annihilating the opposition.”
In today’s competitive landscape, bold strategy often wins — especially in the diamond world.
💍 The Fall of the ‘Diamond Dream’
- For 80+ years, De Beers marketed natural diamonds as the ultimate love symbol.
- Then came lab-grown diamonds (LGDs).
- The natural diamond industry:
- ❌ Didn’t invest enough in telling their story.
- ❌ Let LGDs write their own narrative: “same as natural, just conflict-free.”
😬 What Went Wrong
- Many natural diamond players jumped into LGDs for profit.
- LGDs filled the vacuum with clever messaging — often misleading — and no one pushed back hard enough.
📉 Crystal Pepsi vs Tab Clear — A Perfect Parallel
- 1993: Pepsi launches “Crystal Pepsi” — clear, trendy, but sugary and mismatched with expectations.
- Coca-Cola’s revenge: launched “Tab Clear,” a zero-calorie product deliberately made to confuse shoppers.
➤ Shoppers assumed Crystal Pepsi was diet too, felt misled, and abandoned it.
🚗 Tata Nano — Another Lesson in Positioning
- Marketed as “the cheapest car” — USD 1,300.
- Targeted poor, first-time car buyers in India.
- ❌ Failed because in India, a car is a status symbol.
- If it had been “a city car for millionaires,” story could’ve been different.
📚 The Takeaways
- LGDs were positioned like Crystal Pepsi: “same product, healthier and cheaper.”
- Natural diamonds never made their case.
- The industry let LGDs claim values like “eco-friendly” and “ethical” — even if untrue.
- LGDs = mass-produced, cheap, coal-powered tech products from India/China.
- Instead of defending the luxury, natural diamonds surrendered the story.
💡 What Should Have Happened
- Price LGDs low (e.g., $200/ct), sell in mass-market retail, and brand them clearly:
- “Diamonds for everyone”
- Not luxury. Not engagement. Just fashion.
- De Beers’ Lightbox tried this — but priced it too high ($800–$1,500/ct), missed the moment, and avoided the engagement ring space.
🌍 The Bigger Picture
- De Beers isn’t to blame — they funded tech to detect LGDs.
- Without them, the industry could’ve been flooded with undetectable fakes.
- But now, even Pandora buys LGDs from Lightbox and claims “sustainable sourcing.”
➤ Talk about irony.
✅ Final Note
- Lab-grown sapphires and rubies sell for far less than natural ones — as they should.
- De Beers' new leadership stopped LGD jewelry production. Smart move.
- If the natural diamond industry doesn’t unite, De Beers might start branding its diamonds separately… and those who did nothing will regret it.