Signet and Forevermark will join forces this holiday to promote a new concept, the Ever Us two-stone ring, in what is shaping up as the industry’s biggest product launch since the days of De Beers’ beacons.

The concept is built around two diamonds of equal size and quality touching each other. The two diamonds represent both members of a couple and the friendship and love they feel for each other, says Stuart Lee, Signet’s executive vice president of merchandising.

Several things make this initiative unusual:

– The Ever Us brand will be carried in Signet’s three main U.S. chains—Kay, Zales, and Jared—as well as its Canadian and United Kingdom divisions.

– Those three U.S. chains will all air the same advertising for it. “We wanted the power of one message,” says Lee. “We have done some crossover selling before, but never like this, with the power of one Signet advertising program and the entire Signet entity.”

– While Signet developed and owns the rights to the Ever Us brand, it is allowing Forevermark to use both the brand name and its tagline: “One diamond for your best friend. One diamond for your true love.” In addition, Forevermark partner retailers will sell Ever Us two-stone jewelry with its branded diamonds.

Forevermark has developed its own advertising for the concept, which will run in print, digital, and social media, says the brand’s US president Charles Stanley.

The idea originated with Signet, which was searching for the “next must-have” and a “global iconic brand,” says Lee.

“We researched previous beacon strategies,” he says. “We found that that two diamonds resonated exceptionally well. What better than two diamonds to symbolize two people?

“It is a new design to a degree,” he says. “But it’s the concept that’s important. When we tested it, men told us that they wanted something simple. They wanted it to be evident that when he gives it to her, it says: ‘You are my best friend, and you are my true love.’ ”

The concept eventually tested higher than past De Beers beacons such as the three-stone ring and Journey, Lee says.

Signet decided to join forces with Forevermark at this year’s JCK Las Vegas show.

“We said to ourselves: We can do this on our own or reach out to a great team that we have partnered with in the past,” says Lee. “If you are going to create an iconic global strategy, who better than Forevermark and the [De Beers] team, which have done so many of these great brands in the past.”

While Signet has lately been developing proprietary products, joining together with Forevemark means that it will be putting its muscle behind a concept sold by its competitors.

But that’s okay, Lee says: “We want to create this high tide that lifts all boats. We believe that we are in competition with the furniture business, the restaurant business. As an industry, we have to retain that share of wallet.”

Stanley says the concept meets the three criteria that have boosted past beacons: an emotional hook, an industry-wide concept, and substantial marketing support.

“Signet and Forevermark want to build on each other’s activities,” he says. “We recognize that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” 

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