This week’s pick for Retailer of the Week combines a
recognition of forward-thinking jewelry retailing with Retail Thursday’s
regular content feature Viral Spiral. It’s that time of the year when store
owners enlist the help of the best and brightest in the ad business to produce
the most attention-grabbing Christmas commercials. That’s the case with David
Nygaard’s new seasonal ad “Gotta Lock that Down.”
Nygaard, the owner of David Nygaard Fine Jewelers in Chesapeake,
Va., uploaded the video on YouTube last week with additional links posted
on his Facebook page and his main website. It’s already showing early signs of
going viral with more than 625 unique views in just one week. “Gotta Lock that
Down” is a sequel of sorts to Nygaard’s Christmas 2007 video entitled “It’ll
Take a Diamond,” which to date has logged more than 3,700 unique views and was
reviewed in a recent installment of Viral Spiral.
Although “Gotta Lock that Down” and “It’ll Take a Diamond”
were produced by the same creative team, the two seasonal ads are directed at
two very distinct audiences to complement Nygaard’s two very different business
models.
Years ago Nygaard owned six jewelry stores, then closed all of
them and reopened a single new stand-alone store to concentrate all of his retail
business in the Chesapeake market under one roof. While consolidating his Main
Street business model to serve his local market, Nygaard was also taking aim at a larger, more substantial national market with his
PassionFireDiamonds.com website, a pure bridal e-commerce website that’s a
one-stop-shop for all bridal jewelry, including loose diamonds, bridal jewelry,
and wedding bands.
“A few years ago, the ‘It’ll Take a Diamond’ video served us
well in bringing in customers to the store during the holiday season,” says
Nygaard. “The video got a lot of laughs and a lot of attention as many people
could relate to it. But with ‘Gotta Lock that Down’ we wanted to make
PassionFireDiamonds.com more memorable and more nationwide.”
One way Nygaard is doing this is by creating a buzz around
the “Gotta Lock that Down” video with its own URL that links to his PassionFireDiamonds.com website. “Our goal is to make a
bigger digital footprint,” says Nygaard. “We’re using a multi-channel approach
to promoting the video, by posting the video on YouTube, Facebook, as well as
the video’s own website. The goal is to create an association between the video
and the PassionFireDiamonds.com brand.”
Digital video production is part of Nygaard’s future plans
for PassionFireDiamonds.com. His early goal is to produce videos for the two
busiest jewelry shopping events of the year—Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
“Gotta Lock that Down” was inspired by a true story. A
friend of Nygaard’s had been dating a woman for many years. She had made
several overtures of settling down and Nygaard’s friend finally got the hint
and made a pact with himself to buy an engagement ring by the end of the
summer. Nygaard insisted that his friend should buy the engagement ring by his
girlfriend’s 40th birthday, which came a few months before Labor
Day, or he’d lose a good opportunity.
The “Gotta Lock that Down” video dramatizes a young woman’s
options as she waits for her man to make up his mind on the commitment thing.
The seasonal backdrop of the “Gotta Lock that Down” video is a Christmas party
where every man in the room seems to know what a catch the fine young lady is
with the exception of the boyfriend.
The video is a knee-slapper for several reasons. The casting
for the many men hoping to steal this woman away from the boyfriend is spot-on.
From young and stylish to old and fashion-challenged, just about every
demographic is spoken for. The video quickly conveys that the boyfriend is in a
predatory environment that requires him to man up real fast! Naturally, he
embarks on a speedy search for diamond jewelry on his mobile device. The video has some very funny moments and terrific casting, but in more
cryptic marketing terms, the video appeals to a certain age demographic that
eats, sleeps, and breathes mobile devices. Nygaard also lets it be known that his
e-commerce site is mobile-device–friendly. And that
PassionFireDiamonds.com is the solution to a young man’s diamond dilemmas.
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