Joel David, owner of J. David Jewelry, held a video contest
earlier this year. The winner received a 1-carat diamond ring valued at over
$5,000. This winning video got more than 20,000 unique views on YouTube. The
rules were simple: create a video on why a customer likes J. David Jewelry;
upload it to YouTube; and send in the video link. Anyone who submitted a video
received a $250 gift card. The winning video was “The Diamond Fairy” by Roman
Johnson. Below is a link to the winning video, a review of the video itself and
the contest that inspired it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B32eM2W14g

Premier Consulting Group president Nick Failla, who works
with retail jewelers on developing video marketing campaigns, had this to say about
the video and the contest:

This video is a fantastic example of the creative opportunities
the latest technologies make available to all retailers.  Not just those
with enormous marketing budgets.  In this instance, the retailer did a
wonderful job of maximizing their marketing dollars by shifting some the
production responsibilities onto the public and positioning the entire effort
as a contest. 

The retailer provided a generous prize. But a store with a
more restricted budget could offer a less expensive reward and still expect a
great deal of participation by aspiring videographers in their marketplace.

An additional financial benefit experienced with this
retailer’s approach is that they did not need to spend money on airtime because
the venues they chose to broadcast their video on are free!  Broadcasting
this video on YouTube.com and the retailer’s website not only saved them
broadcast fees, these mediums provided the opportunity for their video to
become viral.  It would also be important to recognize that the creators
of the winning video played an important role in promoting their video and in
turn the retailer’s store, by telling all their friends and family.

The combination of fantastic creativity, “promotability” and
affordability make this video a real winner!

Nick Failla

JCK