I recently came across an article about marketing by Louis Cheskin and L. B. Ward, originally published in the Harvard Business Review in 1948. In discussing the difficulties of marketing nearly 60 years ago, it’s interesting to see how there’s still a lot to learn about customer preferences. Participants in their study made unexpected choices: when asked to pick “the best” or “most beautiful,” their answers were different from what they said they would choose for themselves. Could the same be said for diamonds?
I would ask the following questions:
1. When you are offered a selection of diamonds, which one is the best?
2. When you are offered to select a diamond for use, which diamond will you select?
3. Will you select the same diamond in each case?
I doubt it. Beauty remains in the eye of the beholder, with respect to different situations and different purposes.