One-hundred-year-old Helzberg Diamonds, a Berkshire Hathaway-owned company with more than 200 stores across the U.S., was losing share due to the decline of mall traffic, online competitors and more modern choices such as Etsy. Because wedding jewelry -- specifically, engagement rings --is a large portion of their business, Helzberg sought to increase awareness and relevancy among couples considering marriage. So, we took a closer look at what’s happening.

ring: for men, the hardest part is picking out a ring, and for women, it’s letting him know the style of ring they want.

We saw an opportunity to change the rules of engagement. We worked with Helzberg to create the “Will You?” Ring, a new way to propose that enabled couples to keep the romantic element of surprise but still get the ideal ring. Together.

Available for $50 online and in stores, the ring is inscribed with the words, “This is A ring, not THE ring” and comes in a presentation box, along with details on how the couple to save up to $400 their actual engagement ring if they return to Helzberg to shop.

Partnerships with two lifestyle bloggers created content and drove conversation on the ring. Social videos and posts also helped capture attention, while key bridal and lifestyle media received customized kits

Leading up to the campaign, Helzberg conducted internal research with sales associates and found that women were often disappointed with the engagement ring they received and wanted to play a more active role in the shopping process. In addition, the research showed that men were stressed about picking the perfect ring by themselves.

We wanted to create conversation about the engagement process and introduce a new way to get engaged. Rather than drive traffic to social media channels, our mission was to drive traffic to the Helzberg website.

Helzberg looked to execute a media outreach strategy focused on capturing the attention of broadcast outlets and local media in Kansas City, Missouri, where the brand is headquartered.

The brand also created several pieces of short-form content for social, all developed with the goal of driving audiences back to the company website.

On a shoestring budget, we placed Helzberg Diamonds in key places that men and women visit to get the inspiration (and courage) needed to get engaged.

Informative and relatable social content to invoke conversation. The agency created a variety of assets tapping into humor and emotion to capture consumer attention. Social videos shined a light on the purpose of the ring and the need Helzberg Diamonds is fulfilling for today’s couples who want to pick out the ring together, but still want a surprise proposal to cherish.

Through a combination of hardworking tactics, we surround-sounded our key target of unmarried individuals with messages about the “Will You?” Ring and what it stands for, driving an important discussion.

The “Will You?” Ring definitely got noticed. Upending a time-honored, hiding-the-ring-in-your-sock-drawer ritual, more than 90 million earned media impressions were generated for the brand in just two weeks, surpassing our goal.

Additionally, coverage was secured in top-tier national outlets, including NBC’s “The Today Show”, The Knot, Inside Edition, Trend Hunter and MSN. Furthermore, with several key market broadcast placements, news hosts across the country engaged in colorful, on-air discussions.

The passion intensity of “Helzberg Diamonds” mentions on social media grew from a score of 58 to a score of 100. “Will You?” Ring content also drove 13.3 million social impressions and over performed the benchmark click-through rate by 257 percent.

The campaign launch brought more than 208,000 new users to Helzberg.com, surpassing our goal of 50,000 new users.

Most importantly, the “Will You?” Ring helped our efforts to position Helzberg as a thought-leader on the current state of love.