Mervis Diamond Importers wanted to produce clever print ads for placement in The Onion newspaper, using its standard ad format, which consisted of an image of diamond jewelry. Mervis Diamond Importers asked our creators to come up with the tag line and planned to select 5-15 tagline submissions for use in its weekly print advertisement.
Mervis Diamond Importers is the largest diamond retailer in the Washington, DC area, and it has built a strong brand image over the past 20+ years. In 2008, Mervis Diamond Importers started an ad campaign in the Washington, DC print edition of The Onion, a free satirical newspaper with a readership that is predominately educated young professionals. The objective of the marketing campaign was to reach soon-to-be engaged young men, ages 24-34. As a diamond retailer, Mervis had to remain classy and trustworthy, but given the context of a satirical newspaper, it wanted to push the envelope by crafting a message that was clever, but not distasteful.
Mervis Diamond Importers received over 500 ideas for taglines by using the GeniusRocket platform. The company then chose 15 submissions, which were then used in subsequent advertisements in The Onion newspaper. The cost to Mervis was $1,500.
“GeniusRocket starts with the people. What do you guys think about us? What do our customers think about us? Create something [media] for us. It’s a much more authentic message that comes across.”
- Jonathan Mervis, Mervis Diamond Importers
“I don’t have the time to brainstorm thousands of ideas. Every day I would open up my email and there were 20, 30, 50 new slogans from all these creative people from throughout the world brainstorming about my business.”
- Jonathan Mervis, Mervis Diamond Importers
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