Intro
A diamond mystery box can be a great way to advertise: either as an open secret or as a surprise.
The main thing you need to know is that the box’s contents are not known until you open the box.
As such, diamonds do not make for great marketing, but since diamonds are so rare, very few people know about them. So if you want to advertise your diamond mystery box or use it as a marketing tool, it has to be something that appeals to people not already aware of diamonds and their rarity.
What is a Diamond Mystery Box?
A diamond mystery box is a box of diamonds that may be worth more than you think. It is a box of diamonds, and the only way to spot it is to open it.
The diamond mystery box dates back to the early-1900s, when a diamond-obsessed Englishman named Harry Winston opened his own store in London and bequeathed his wife and son an obscure diamond necklace (in the shape of a heart on a chain). The following year, another Englishman named David Gillister opened his shop in Paris and also bought a jeweler’s box. Coupled with some basic math skills and an open mind, they were able to determine that their diamonds were worth at least $600 million.
In the next five years, four other jewelers — who did not have access to pure diamonds — began offering boxes with diamonds worth around $500 million each. Over time, many people began paying as much as $3 million for boxes like these (some even went so far as to buy entire family heirlooms). The idea caught on so well that by the end of WWII, nine countries manufactured boxes for sale to customers who were willing to pay millions of dollars for them (even though they could not identify all of the diamonds inside). Today, there are more than 200 companies involved in this business (many are based outside England).
One common misconception about diamond mystery boxes is that they can be used only once. On rare occasions when it’s raining or snowing outside, people will get cold out of nowhere, pull out their phones or computers and see “Buy me this!” on their screens; spend hours looking for their “perfect present” until they find one; then get mad at themselves for wasting precious time because it never existed in the first place; then spend even more hours looking for said present until they realize it actually never existed in the first place…and so on…and so forth. Diamond mystery boxes are useful for such cases: if you don’t know what you want but are sure you want something special, fill your box with some diamonds before going outside and opening it again once the weather turns warm and sunny.
History of the Diamond Mystery Box
The first documented use of the diamond mystery box was by a 19th-century American inventor who used it to sell diamonds and other gems through his mail order business. The company was called the Diamond Mystery Box Company and distributed fine jewelry items to retail customers.
Thos. Bell, a New York jeweler, who in 1879 set up a mail order business selling diamonds and other gems as “mystery boxes”, introduced the first diamond mystery box jewelry store to the public. He opened his store at 36 Fifth Avenue, New York City in 1879. The Diamond Mystery Box Company sells fine jewelry in black leather cases from $1,500 to $18,000 per pair. Some boxes are exclusive for an entire year; others are open for only two or three months before being retired for the remainder of the year (usually after Christmas).
The basic idea is that each seller places diamonds or other gems inside a black leather case that sells over time at retail prices based on supply and demand (the more people demand them, the higher their price). A number of companies have replicated this concept with varying success over the years:
=== It’s been done before: === http://www.pinterest.com/pin/513988497732527982/
=== Fade out: === http://www.pinterest.com/pin/513810250591558790/
=== It’s been done better: === http://www.pinterest.com/pin/269610065647824698/
=== Get back on track: === http://www.pinterest.com/pin/55863312894347075#
How to Get a Diamond Mystery Box
Diamond mysteries have been around for ages, but what is it about your diamond mystery box that makes it so special? What does it do differently from the other boxes? How can you best showcase your precious stone? There are so many different questions to answer:
Diamond Mystery Box Questions
For this post we will highlight three diamond mystery box questions. In no particular order, we will be answering them:
What kind of diamond is in your mystery box?
Is there a particular type or color of diamond that you like?
What initial milestone do you want to reach before you release your product?
How much money do I need to test my product before I launch it?
What are the biggest challenges when making and marketing a diamond mystery box product?
Selling your Diamond Mystery Box in the Market
I know I’m late to the party, but it’s a good thing I did not wait until the last minute. A friend of mine had a diamond mystery box he opened up and sold on eBay earlier this month. The box contained a real diamond and it sold for $25,000.
It is interesting to see how the box itself is described in detail. For example, the Diamond Mystery Box is “a sparkly wooden box with a red ribbon on top” and you might be tempted to assume that it was created with sparkly wooden boxes in mind. This isn’t entirely incorrect — but notice that it also includes a picture of the box with a real diamond inside (not just another picture of something sparkly).
The big questions are: where did he get his diamond? how much did he pay for it? how long did he keep it? what were his goals when he got the stone? What kind of marketing should we expect from him going forward? How do we prepare for this kind of thing — and what kinds of sales tactics will we need to use if we want our customers to make us part of their day-to-day lives? It helped me think about this in terms of market tactics — because in my view, no matter how hard some people try, they cannot replicate other people’s experiences.
Conclusion
If you have been using a mystery box for about a month, you know what I mean. It’s not quite as exciting as it sounds, but it is still one of the most enjoyable things about using Slack.
I recently had a conversation with the developers on my team about this and they said that even though they get used to the mystery box, it’s just not as fun to use now that they know that they can get something out of it (instead of just getting an email). So, I wondered: what are your favourite features of the mystery box? What are some things you miss? And how do you feel about it? Let me know in the comments below!