JAMES BOND FACT FILES

If On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) had proved difficult to market following George Lazenby's resignation from the role of James Bond even before the film was released, the next 007 adventure was equally hard to exploit as star Sean Connery had made it clear his return was a one-off, and he would take part in very little publicity for Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Like its predecessor, Diamonds Are Forever was promoted in the UK via competitions, and tie-ins with booksellers; music stores; jewellers [to emphasise the ‘Diamond’ connection], and toy shops to promote Lone Star and CORGI products (who would produce the only licenced merchandise directly linked to the film apart from the soundtrack album and paperback tie-in).

Once again, many newspapers opted for tie-ins with local traders who took out advertising space during the week that Diamonds Are Forever played in their town or city. The Middlesex Chronicle of March 31, 1972 devoted a double-page spread to Diamonds Are Forever to coincide with the opening of the film at the ODEON Hounslow on Sunday April 2nd. Many local traders had bespoke advertisements linking their shop or product with the new James Bond film.

The ODEON Shepherds Bush had screened Diamonds Are Forever a week earlier and had installed in the foyer a combination safe containing a cigarette lighter with a Perspex base into which was embedded a diamond in its natural state (donated by De Beers), record tokens for the Diamonds Are Forever soundtrack (donated by W. G. Records), shirt tokens from Harry Fenton, and complimentary tickets for the West End ODEON. To acquire the items all cinema patrons and members of the public had to do was to open the safe. As the combination had not been cracked by March 31, 1972 local newspaper Kensington and Chelsea News informed readers that the ODEON Shepherds Bush would be advertising parts of the combination throughout the week to make the safe-breaking job easier!

In Diamonds Are Forever (1971), American actor Patrick “Putter” Smith played Mr. Kidd, one half of a pair of gay killers, opposite Bruce Glover as Mr. Wint. In the film Putter Smith can be seen taking photographs with a NIKON F camera. Introduced in April 1959, the NIKON F was one of the most advanced 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera of its day. The Japanese manufacturer was one of only a handful of companies to market their products to tie-in with the new James Bond film. A two-colour double-crown (20" X 30") poster was advertised in the Exhibitors’ Campaign Book and distributed to dealers across the UK for window or in-store display.

The opening of Diamonds Are Forever at the ODEON Worcester on April 23, 1972 was advertised via a hand-lettered showcard displayed in the window of a local camera shop [pictured below left], which no doubt stocked the NIKON F seen in the film.

Although the HONDA three-wheel dune-buggy used in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) was not marketed in the UK, the Exhibitors’ Campaign Book suggested supporting dealers to provide promotional materials to back up showroom displays for machines that were sold in Britain. United Artists made available a still featuring Sean Connery kicking a Techtronics guard off the dune-buggy in the Nevada desert, to be used with the slogan “HONDA WHERE THE ACTION IS!”.

The Exhibitors’ Campaign Book also suggested tie-ins with De Beers - the world famous diamond organisation - through the Diamond Promotion Service, who wrote to jewellers throughout the country to suggest they liaise with local cinema managers to arrange special diamond promotions to coincide with the presentation of Diamonds Are Forever. The Diamond Promotion Service produced a limited number of exhibition models sets of world famous diamonds [pictured below], including the Hope and Koh-i-Noor, as well as the stages of cutting a diamond and the six most popular cuts. The exhibition sets were intended for use as the centrepiece in jewellers’ windows or for theatre advance foyer displays.

Founded in 1888, De Beers was the South African-British Corporation who came up with the famous advertising slogan “A Diamond is Forever” in 1947, which subsequently inspired the title of Ian Fleming's fourth James Bond novel. In 2000 Advertising Age magazine named “A Diamond is Forever” as the best advertising slogan of the 20th century. Ian Fleming's 1957 non-fiction book The Diamond Smugglers was based on two weeks of interviews the author undertook with John Collard (1913-2002), a member of the International Diamond Security Organisation, which was headed by Sir Percy Sillitoe (1888-1962), the ex-chief of MI5 who worked for De Beers. Originally serialized in The Sunday Times over six weeks beginning on September 15, 1957, The Diamond Smugglers was published in book form the UK in November 1957 by Jonathan Cape.

Central to the Diamonds Are Forever (1971) advertising campaign was the Moon Buggy which featured prominently on the theatrical posters and in the trailers for the film. In order to capitalize on the unique vehicle (conceptualised by Oscar-winning Production Designer Ken Adam, and engineered and built by famed movie custom-car designer Dean Jeffries in his California workshop) EON Productions/DANJAQ licenced the design to Mettoy Playcraft Ltd. who produced a scale model released in June 1972. As the toy was still in development at the time the Exhibitors’ Campaign Book was produced, a conceptual design was featured, which turned out to be rather different to the finished model. CORGI's Moon Buggy proved extremely popular, selling 189,000 units before its withdrawal in 1973.

CORGI also released a die-cast model of the red Ford Mustang Mach 1, which hit the toyshops in February 1972. The die-cast model featured a black bonnet (not seen on the car featured in the film), opening doors, amber tinted windows and tilting seats. Issued as part of CORGI's ‘Whizzwheels’ range, a small batch of these models were released without an over-sticker on the box linking the car to Diamonds Are Forever. Evidently the toy was ready for release as a standalone edition prior to news that the Mustang would feature in the new James Bond film. Both toys were well-promoted in children's magazines during the general release on Diamonds Are Forever in 1972.

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