'A Diamond is Forever' is more than just a tagline. It stands for the enduring strength found in every love story. In a year when luxury spending was nearly non-existent – and with a mere 1/3 of previous years’ budgets – our goal was simple: remind people that even when the economy is weak, true love is strong. We did not set out to get our audience to buy diamonds this year. We simply asked them to remember what it is that diamonds stand for. We wanted real people to set aside their real worries and their real schedules in order to make what really matters, matter most.

We asked our audience to Drop Everything for Love.

In the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, we used traditional media and takeover banners to encourage people to drop what they were doing and visit our website. Once there, a virtual interviewer guided each person through creating their own simple, honest films to declare the strength of their love. Each participant created an elegant black and white web video to share with their partner, and the world. What no one knew was that we were live-moderating the video submissions. We chose couples with moving love stories. And we immediately dispatched crews to bring our online challenges into people’s real lives.

Each of our unexpected real-life challenges lives on as a short documentary film online at dropeverythingforlove.com

In the end, we brought real couples together in a way that chocolates, flowers and traditional advertising never could. Our site helped people create an elegant filmed declaration of love, and our real-life challenges gave real couples memories that will last their lives. Over the course of our two week campaign, we earned over $2.5 million in free PR, doubled our user engagement and reached a truly national audience – all with a fraction of our client’s usual budget.