Our jewelry brand was born online back in 2005, and for years, we kept our marketing campaigns exclusively in the online space. Putting our name on London’s iconic black cabs might seem like an unusual move for 77 Diamonds, but given the direction our industry is taking, it seemed like the natural next step.
We wanted to explore marketing beyond the digital world and reach people in a setting that was personal, familiar and unmistakably London-based. Our customers may discover us online, but jewelry is in a category where word of mouth and personal recommendations matter immensely. A black cab puts our brand directly into people’s everyday lives, often at precisely the moments when they are thinking about life’s big questions: “Is now the right time to propose? What should I buy for an anniversary?”
In my opinion, this makes a taxi a very interesting advertising environment for a jewelry brand. Someone sitting in the back of a cab has time to look and perhaps even discuss the ad with the driver. We have found that drivers themselves often like to talk about the campaign they are carrying, creating an informal conversation around the brand. That interaction is difficult to replicate with a banner ad or social post, especially when people scroll through hundreds of similar ads every day.
The campaign was also deliberately geo-targeted. Central London is where we have our headquarters and largest showroom, so advertising there gives us both visibility and a sense of proximity. Of course, the black cab itself reinforces that feeling: It is a fixture of London life, and associating 77 with something quintessentially British has been valuable for establishing the brand.
This is the first time we have undertaken a campaign of this kind. Historically, as a primarily online business, it made sense to concentrate our marketing efforts digitally. The appeal of digital is obvious: You can measure almost everything, from impressions to conversions, and quickly understand whether a campaign is working.
But as the boundaries between online and offline continue to disappear, brands need to think more broadly about where and how they show up. 77 Diamonds has grown considerably since those early days, and that growth gives us more freedom to experiment. We are now at a stage where exploring offline marketing feels like the beginning of a new chapter for our brand, just like those who shop with us are planning a new chapter in their lives.
In the past, we did once try something a little unconventional. In 2014, we launched a diamond into space and allowed it to fall back to Earth for someone to find and win. Although deliberate and outlandish, it did generate attention and demonstrated the value of giving people something to talk about. It was our first attempt at virality, too, considering we were still quite a small and unknown brand back then. This campaign is different; we are a more established brand with a cohesive identity. Showing this identity in a familiar, intimate setting like a London cab feels right. It’s nothing outlandish, but this more organic, word-of-mouth process secures our position as leaders in the market.
That said, we do still remain a very data-driven business. Not every unusual idea becomes a campaign. In the early years, we tried things that did not work, and those experiences were painful but important lessons. Today, we understand that an idea has to feel right for the brand, as well as exciting in its own right.
Measuring the direct commercial impact of physical advertising is inevitably harder than measuring a digital campaign. We can’t attribute every showroom visit to a particular black cab. But we have received positive feedback from customers and friends, and we’ve had people come into our London showroom specifically mentioning that they saw the cabs.
There is also a second life to an offline campaign of this type: social media. Seeing a 77 Diamonds ad on a black cab is one thing; seeing that campaign photographed and shared online is another.
Ultimately, thinking outside the box does not mean abandoning what you know. It’s being willing to test where and how your brand can have a meaningful conversation with people.
Vadim Weinig is the cofounder of 77 Diamonds, Europe’s largest online diamond jeweler.
Main image: Images from the 77 Diamonds black cab campaign. (Alvaro Briones)
