De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd.: Shadows campaign
Allison I. PorterOverview
During the recession of the early 1990s, De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. needed a more powerful ad campaign to convince consumers to buy diamond jewelry. Diamonds, however, had no fundamental value and no brand. De Beers turned to its longtime advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson in London, to develop the worldwide "Shadows" campaign, with local ad agencies modifying the basic concept to fit each country's customs, N.W. Ayer & Partners in New York was responsible for the American "Shadows" campaign—in which actors appeared only as shadows on floors, sheets,...