De Beers

DeBeers: A Diamond Is Forever

Cecil Rhodes, the founder of De Beers, got his start by renting water pumps to miners during the diamond rush that started in 1867 at Kimberley, South Africa. He invested the profits of this operation into buying up claims of small mining operators, with his operations soon expanding into a separate mining company. De Beers Consolidated Mines was formed in 1888 by the combination of the companies of Barney Barnato and Cecil Rhodes, by which time the company was the sole owner of all diamond mining operations in the country. (Bold for a reason think about it). One of the most effective marketing strategies has been the marketing of diamonds as a symbol of love and commitment. Which is exactly what started and sky rocketed the De Beers Corporation. Frances Gerety came up with the great slogan which won over the many hearts of people all over the world. That quote comes out to be " A Diamond Is Forever". Other successful campaigns include the "eternity ring" (as a symbol of continuing affection and appreciation), the "trilogy" ring (representing the past, present and future of a relationship) and the "right hand ring" (bought and worn by women as a symbol of independence). All very great ideas from the De Beers Corporation.

Although being a very important company during the 19th and 20th century they were also the ones who may have added to some of the conflict in Sierra Leone by uniting with the RUF and taking control of all the diamonds of Africa. Many have come to many conclusions some being that everything was fine and that Debeers was clean and others coming to conclusios that Blood diamonds were being used. Some may have gone to the conclusion that Debeers was clean because everything seemed to be right and stable with the company and that they were getting their diamonds from Sierra Leone and other regions and resources from the world. Other thought that Debeers was very dirty in sayin that they blood diamonds, diamonds coming off laborers who got little pay and a lot of work and no reward. No matter how they did it or what they did DeBeers became a very important and wealthy company in a fast time.