As COVID receded, engagements took off like a rocket. Zales Jewelers needed to breakthrough the clutter to stand out from other jewelers amidst the sea of proposals.

Despite all the progress toward gender equality, male proposals are still the accepted norm. While women represent half the population and the majority of people who wear engagement rings, men make almost 99% of marriage proposals among heterosexual couples in the US.

Zales believes every woman should feel empowered to propose, so the challenge was to combat the stigma associated with female proposals and the accepted norm that only men could do it.

Although women still widely refrain from proposing, data showed that 70% of men would be psyched if a woman proposed.

Despite male proposals being the accepted norm, one of the most iconic proposals in TV history was made by a woman: 22 years ago, on the hit series Friends, Monica proposed to Chandler in one of the most talked about television scenes, in America.

It may have been a moment ahead of its time but it was particularly timely and relevant for today. The show still draws a weekly audience of 16 million in the US and The Friends Experience, the shows touring live experience, has become a massive hit in cities throughout the US.

So Zales partnered with the show's official exhibition to build an exact recreation of this iconic scene, empowering every Friends Fan to re-enact the scene and create and share their own She Proposed moment with a Zales ring.

As COVID receded, engagements took off like a rocket. Zales Jewelers needed to breakthrough the clutter to stand out from other jewelers amidst the sea of proposals.

Despite all the progress toward gender equality, male proposals are still the accepted norm. While women represent half the population and the majority of people who wear engagement rings, men make almost 99% of marriage proposals among heterosexual couples in the US.

Zales believes every woman should feel empowered to propose, so the challenge was to combat the stigma associated with female proposals and the accepted norm that only men could do it.

Social listening revealed a conversation gaining traction: why don't more women propose? And, although women still widely refrain from proposing, data showed that 70% of men would be psyched if a woman proposed.

Zales partnered with The Friends Experience, the show’s official exhibition, to build an installation that was an exact recreation of the iconic scene where Monica proposed to Chandler.

The activation was open to everyone visiting the exhibition, so fans could re-enact the scene, create their own #SheProposed moment, and share it on social.

The activation was promoted through The Friends Experience and Zales social channels. Key Influencers helped spark the conversation, posting about it and fueling an empowering and positive message.

Fans were so inspired they even proposed themselves, with 38 real proposals taking place on set through the course of the activation.

The activation took place in New York City and lasted 4 days, drawing thousands, selling out and building positive brand sentiment.

Media outlets like CNN, People and The Knot jumped all over the story and helped drive buzz and earned media around the conversation and for the experience.

Key influencers engaged, posted about it and fueled the story, championing an empowering, positive message around female proposals. Influencer posts beat benchmarks for creators by 118.75% and the total number of comments were in top 50% of all IG posts.

With an investment of only 100k, the campaign earned 214 Million impressions and increased site traffic by 23%.

The activation sold out in New York and, most importantly, 38 couples actually got engaged on the Zales "She Proposed" set, which was unprecedented.

The One Where She Proposed differentiated itself from the sea of cliché engagement messages in a way that tapped into the cultural zeitgeist, driving brand awareness and relevance.