C’mon PEOPLE!

If you don’t receive Aleah Arundale’s (formerly Seagal) emails from Olympia Diamonds, they’re extremely well-done, have thought-provoking marketing and product-knowledge messages, and appear to be highly effective at promoting her business.  Her recent email focuses on making big promises in your advertising.  In her words;

Your claim could be "If you buy her a big diamond, you will never have another fight and your teeth with be whiter!!"  Silly? Yes, but it made you smile, pause, and there is a little bit in all of us that wants to believe it is true....

I’ve quoted David Ogilvy before, who said, “the heart and soul of advertising is; A BIG PROMISE."  I believe in making big promises too – as long as they’re hyperbole as above or genuinely beneficial to your audience.   A certain department store believes in making big promises that are neither humorous, nor genuine.  Today only, you can buy a pair of 1.5ct tw diamond studs and save over 75%!  That’s a pretty MASSIVE promise. 

Hmmm.  Didn't we just pass through “Black Friday?”  Isn’t that the day where merchants begin to operate in “the black?”  What are you saying, famous vendor of striped blankets?  Are you saying that we’re in the most lucrative season for merchants and you’re so desperate for cash that you’re willing to sell those diamond studs for less than you paid for them?  Are you saying that you typically mark product at 4-times your cost, and these are being sold AT COST?  Are you saying that someone who bought those same earrings yesterday paid 4-times today’s price?  Will they be getting good value if they purchase them tomorrow at 4-times that incredible price?  Has anyone, in fact, ever paid you $8,000 for those diamond studs?  Are you promising me that I’d have to pay $8,000 if I bought the same quality of diamond studs elsewhere? 

When consumers see this massive discount, is there a part of them that smiles, pauses, and wants to believe it’s true?  I’m sure there will be some misguided dupes.

Is it possible, oh historic Canadian merchant named after a large body of water which borders Northern Ontario, Manitoba, Nunavut, and Quebec that you bought really crummy diamonds for less than $1,999, put them in 18kt gold settings to make them seem valuable, and then pulled an outrageous retail price out of your @$$ that was 300% more than what you wanted to sell them for so that you could WOW people with a 75% discount and still make a profit? 

My money’s on this latter scenario.  It might have to be if they sue me because some of you repost this to your clients and the unnamed department store’s legal department takes offense.

TW