Hidden Valley holds a special place in the hearts and minds of its fans. A place that must be reclaimed time and again to breakthrough in culture. And you can’t reclaim a place in culture without being part of it.

Our fans have worn our branded clothing, tattooed our logo on their bodies, even made prom dresses from our labels. For the ultimate expression of brand love, we married modern science with America’s favorite ranch dressing to create a true first: a diamond made of ranch.

Hidden Valley Ranch is more than America’s favorite ranch dressing. It has become a way of life for many, with the brand cultivating cultural “love” over the years by combining community power with commercial power. Through numerous successful activations that resonated with our target audiences, we knew that ranch superfans – and media – engage well with Hidden Valley’s tangible, out-of-the-box, and limited-edition offerings. Challenged to deliver the next must-have item for our fans, we proposed creating one of the most high-end and romantic products yet to fuel brand love.

We created the purest form of true ranch love – the world’s first diamond made from Hidden Valley Ranch dressing. The Ranch Diamond is a stunning man-made diamond created by burning and purifying Hidden Valley Ranch, then putting the resulting carbon under extreme pressure for months. The 2-carat emerald cut sparkler was auctioned on eBay for $12,550, which was donated to Feeding America to provide 125,500 meals for families in need. Not bad for a $3.99 bottle of ranch.

Insight: Life is all about finding those people who are your kind of crazy.

The wedding industry is booming like never before. Due to COVID-19 postponements, 2022 was expected to have 2.5 million nuptials, the most in nearly four decades (The Wedding Report 2021).

Hidden Valley Ranch is more than America’s favorite ranch dressing. It has become a way of life for many, inspiring the brand to cultivate crazy, cultural “love” by combining community power with commercial power.

Strategy: Make a Hidden Valley Ranch superfan’s wedding proposal even more special to fuel loyalty and love among ranch lovers, while also attracting new brand fans. With nearly 70% of millennials considering buying a lab grown alternative diamond (BBC), the Ranch Diamond not only leaned into the latest jewelry trends but created a story that attracted widespread media attention outside of the brand’s usual coverage categories.

We enlisted a diamond maker, LifeGem, to create the Ranch Diamond, setting it in a 14K white gold band with “HVR LVR” engraved on the inside.

To give fans the chance to bid on the exclusive ring, we developed a listing page on eBay through the vanity URL: TheRanchDiamond.com. This created an opportunity for news media to track and report on its progress over a 10-day span, extending our news cycle.

Leveraging the timely moment of National Ranch Day (March 10), we announced the creation of our one-of-a-kind diamond across earned media and owned social channels. We created and teased social content across platforms and issued an embargoed story to media friendlies. Shortly after the embargoed news broke, we pitched national and local media across business, lifestyle, food and beverage, fashion, jewelry, and wedding outlets.

The Ranch Diamond exceeded expectations when it came to fan engagement and media interest. For 10 days, 79 people actively bid on the ring, driving up the price to a whopping $12,550. On Instagram alone, our content delivered 4,520 likes and views, with 337 comments – the brand’s most engaging content ever.

With no paid media, the story of the Ranch Diamond delivered 415.7MM earned impressions, surpassing initial KPI targets and past program results. People shared their excitement – and disbelief – on social media, with messaging such as:

“If you like it then you should have put a Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning Diamond Ring on it.” @MegancGraham

“I am now invested in WHO will buy this and WHETHER they’ll use it in a marriage proposal.” @JuanEscalante

“Have you ever thought about whether the diamond you were wearing could be made from salad dressing? HVR has definitely taken it to the last level…” @JawDropJewel

“Excuse me? Whoever gets this better propose to me with it asap.” @JackieHollywood

Other metrics included:

241 online placements resulting in 409M impressions from top-tier outlets like Food and Wine, Thrillist, Yahoo, Mashed, Vice, NY Post, and The Onion.

136 broadcast placements that resulted in 6M impressions, with mentions on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Late Late Show with James Corden, NPR’s Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!, NBC Los Angeles, multiple local NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and iHeart Radio station affiliates across the country.

125,500 meals donated to Feeding America from the sale