The diamond industry has seen a decline in recent decades, thanks to fewer young people getting married and ethical concerns around the sourcing of diamonds, as well as decreased societal pressure to turn to the precious stone as the only acceptable symbol of a lasting relationship.
The Diamond Producers Association chose Mother New York as its creative agency last year, and in its first campaign the agency takes aim at the latter notion. While careful not to come across as too pushy, a pair of new ads position diamonds as an enduring symbol of true love. The message, while presented in a new way clearly aimed at a millennial audience, is a familiar one. Centered around the “Real Is Rare” tagline, the spots align diamonds with “real” love, with the implication that substitutes for a “real” diamond amount to something less.
To spread the message without coming across as too preachy, Mother New York takes a look at a couple of intense relationships. “Runaways” documents a young couple who “decided to run away together” and seem to have never looked back. While the copy occasionally strays into painfully clumsy territory (“But the wild that’s inside of her excites the wild that’s inside of me”), the spots are artfully shot by RSA Films director Casper Balslev, tying the intimate relationships to evocative natural imagery. A second spot, “Wild and Kind” takes a similar approach, presenting a relationship where each partner has made a commitment, even if they never get married. Both spots will air on broadcast, accompanied by a social media initiative.
“The data shows that millennials buy the most diamonds in the U.S., so this is a proactive measure to make sure that this isn’t simply tied to rituals like marriage,” Mother New York senior strategist Thomas Henry told Adweek. “On the flip side, while most millennials do get married, it’s just not quite the same cultural institution that it used to be. … but that doesn’t change the desire to be in a meaningful long-term relationship.”
“Young people don’t reject diamonds at all,” he added, “…but people we spoke to couldn’t identify their emotional role. [We want to] give them language to describe that feeling; a diamond is the way you’ve chosen to commemorate the occasion, and not just because society told you to.”
Credits:
Client: Diamond Producers Association
Agency: Mother New York
Title: “Runaways”; “Wild & Kind”
Production Co: RSA Films
Director: Casper Balslev
Executive Producer: Jules Daly
Executive Producer: Marjie Abrahams
Head of Production: Elicia LaPort
Line Producer: John Nguyen
DP: Manuel Alberto Claro
Production Service Co.: New Land Films (Denmark), & Cyber: A Few Good Men (Montenegro)
Edit: Exile
Editor – Jacob Schulsinger
Assistant Editor – Travis Moore
Head of Production – Melanie Gagliano
Executive Producer – Sasha Hirschfeld
Music
El Camino Helsinki
Composer: Marko Nyberg
Audio Post Production: duotone audio post
Mixer: Andy Green
Executive Producer, Audio Post: Greg Tiefenbrun
Color: CO3 NY
Colorist: Sophie Borup
VFX: Method
Creative Director: Randie Swanberg
Executive Producer: Angela Lupo
Producer: Alex Tracy