In last week's solocast, you heard my TEDx talk about Peter Analog and Sophia Digital. But there's one company I called out for being a Native Analog business that's not exploring ways to change for the future.

Our FLOP of the week, ladies and gentlemen:

De Beers Jewelers.

In 2018, De Beers released a comprehensive report titled "MILLENNIALS AND GEN Z: CAPTURING THE OPPORTUNITY." But here we are in 2022, and I'm (not) shocked to see that De Beers has not taken their own report's suggestions.

Here are a few of the suggestions they made to themselves (then promptly didn't follow):

• Align social promises with brand promises (blood diamonds anyone??)
• Help Gen Z build their personal brands through a personalized selection and shopping experience
• Seamless online purchasing experience
• Focus on individuality in the shopping experience and the jewelry curation process

Sure, De Beers is engaging influencers. Sure, they're showing gay couples in their ads. But is this addressing the most fundamental problems with their lack of product alignment with Native Digitals?

The answer is a resounding "NO."

What is a "romantic gesture" to Gen Z?

Within De Beer's quoted study on Gen Z, one woman from NY (the one they chose to call out mind you) said that "a romantic gesture would be going out of your way to do something special."

Then they equated that with the purchase of an expensive ring. Instead of even possibly considering an experience-driven model. Why? Don't ask me.

Even worse, their chart (figure 9) on page 19 of the report depicts diamond sales DECREASING for engagements among the younger generation! In none of the research do they take the time to consider that diamonds are on the decline, and other jewels, experiences, and meanings are more important.

We can take away many learnings from this FLOP. It's important for businesses to be thinking about where we're HEADED, not just what's one step ahead.

De Beers has a major opportunity within Meta, NFTs, and more impactful experiences. They're missing it as we speak.

Don't be like De Beers.

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