A move up the supply chain

De Beers Jewellery advertisement from Architectural Digest

De Beers seems to be keen to move up the supply chain from just mining to selling branded jewellery. There is lot more money to be made selling diamond jewellery for thousands, or tens of thousands, per carat, than selling rough stones for a few hundred per carat.

But one of the most interesting thing about this advertisement, which appeared on the back cover of the February 2012 issue of the American magazine Architectural Digest, is that De Beers does not use the American spelling for jewellery. Were they looking for some Anglo snob appeal?

The jewellery is all VERY conservative and I'm sure it will sell like gangbusters. But will the American customers still wonder about that spelling? And will they associate De Beers with retail jewellery sales?