STERNS wasn’t much. A few struggling little jewelry shops in a handful of cities … doing kind of OK but with way bigger dreams …
… to be THE go-to place for engagement rings. Nation wide.
Good locations, not much traffic. And like virtually all jewelry stores even today, formulaic advertising: beautiful couples … beautiful rings … markdown pricing … nothing distinguishing.
So business wasn’t brisk enough to take even the first step.
I worked then at Thomas Downing & Partners – a small but blazing hot agency who persuaded Sterns their dreams were in reach.
So first, research. We learned that, at least at that time, young ladies’ thoughts ended dead stop at their wedding day. ALL planning went into that one day and into the honeymoon location … virtually no consideration would be given to the years ahead. The marriage itself would simply be “happily ever after.” Naturally. Of course. What else??
They were living in a fairy tale. So … we created fairy tales.
And – even though Sterns had just those few little stores – we ran them as full page ads in national magazines. Building a bigger image, both for prestige and for the curiosity effect.
(Do not imagine this in comparison with British or American women’s magazines, where circulations can run into multiple millions. South Africa’s entire population at the time was under 30 million, with only four national-circulation women’s magazines worth speaking of. We ran our ads in only two of those, so costs were relatively small.)
One fairy tale had to be about a knight in shining armor, of course. One was about an astronaut (the Space Program was huge at the time). Another was a cowboy with a hankerin’. Every one of these poor males was smitten, tongue-tied, incapable of proposing until Cupid advised them shrewdly to trot down to Sterns for the perfect diamond ring, and likewise ask about their exclusive Pay-As-You-Earn plan.
Harry Voigt’s illustrations are still gorgeous – perfect for the women’s glossy monthlies they ran in. Just one insertion, every two months, staggered. Three magazine ads rotating, plus a B/W newspaper ad as fill. They offered unique guarantees … and a coupon as a two-step come-on … and the same last-line CTA in each ad … “Now, how about you?”
Sterns sold out their entire stock of engagement rings the weekend after the first ad’s appearance. They soon moved to larger stores almost everywhere and, yes, became the go-to place for weddings … and pretty much every other jewelry gift.
Dream realized.
Other jewelers soon began to copy Stern’s guarantees … although none of those ever offered to buy back the diamond for a larger one, at 10% more than you paid for it, as we advised Sterns to do. Conditions apply.
Oh, and would we please update their logo.
TAKEAWAYS:
Start small, think big. Seth Godin advises to keep your initial “tribe” small and tailor a message specifically to their desires (rifle, not shotgun)
… but always keep the larger, long term goal in mind.
Some of the text is definitely from an earlier time and wouldn’t fly today, but was very much in tune with its contemporary market.