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Merrick, NY—Now that jewelers don’t have De Beers’ beacon diamond commercials driving traffic for Valentine’s Day, something has to fill the void. As it was with holiday advertising two months ago, chain jeweler Sterling seems to be taking the lead.

Also like holiday 2011, to my observation the Sterling/Zale commercial ratio was tipped heavily in favor of Sterling, with Kay commercials running about 2.5 to 1 over Zales. Kudos to Sterling for getting the jewelry message out on a national level, because a rising tide lifts all boats, and it allows independent luxury jewelers to put their efforts toward more effective local advertising and clienteling.

So how did the 2012 crop of Valentine jewelry commercials rate? Let’s have a look.

YouTube features three different Zales commercials tagged for Valentine’s Day 2012, but in our viewing area, only this one of the three was ever shown, and in my opinion it was not the best choice. While I can laugh at off-color jokes with the best, as an industry we’ve seen enough examples of jewelry used to buy redemption for bad behavior (Kobe Bryant, anyone?). There’s no bad behavior in this commercial, but I still don’t think the blatant “give this, get that” implication is the best way for our industry to sell emotion. Let’s leave that technique to Teleflora.

This from Zales is much better. It conveys the same basic message but more romantically and definitely more tastefully. And this one of Zales' is good too. Indeed, jewelers already know that chocolate and romance are inextricably tied together, as evidenced by Hamilton Jewelers’ Facebook post last week and Le Vian’s line of Chocolate Diamond jewelry.

Kay Jewelers’ primary Valentine spots for 2012 are not on YouTube yet, though its 2011 spots are. This year, the jeweler’s most popular spot actually has multiple versions in rotation featuring different gifts, but the spot itself is the same: a twenty- or thirty-something couple gets into a photo booth and the man gives the woman a Kay Jewelers gift box just as the camera snaps and captures the rapt expression on her face as she opens it. For the next photo, she turns him toward her and plants a kiss, which of course leads into the famous “Every Kiss Begins With Kay” jingle. A little campy, perhaps, but captures the spirit of selling emotion very well, and that’s the point. (Note: I didn’t see any commercials for Sterling’s Jared division this Valentine’s Day, and there were none on YouTube at press time.)

Helzberg’s Helzquest, with online hosts Todd and Lisa of course has a Valentine’s Day edition. Humorous in a way clearly designed to appeal to the Millennial/Gen-X consumer, the ongoing contest uses a combination of YouTube videos and social media. Contestants can enter a weekly Helzquest competition drawing via Facebook, Twitter, or Google+. 

The retailer also has an infomercial video featuring Valentine’s Day ideas on YouTube, seen here. It’s a little dry, and focused more on price than stirring emotion, but it shows product well, reminds the guys to go shopping, and is a good resource for those that just don’t know what to choose.

Finally, here’s one of the best romantic commercials ever. It gets my vote for Valentine’s Day. And you’d never guess that it’s not from a luxury jeweler, because it’s clearly an affluent family and jewelry is a pretty important part of the mix, especially as featured in the longer YouTube version.

The series does as good a job promoting diamond engagement rings and diamond earrings (and a few other special pieces) as any jewelry commercial ever did. In fact, it probably does a better job selling jewelry than what it’s actually meant to sell, which is Fancy Feast cat food.

The adorable silver Persian kitten and its equally beautiful adult predecessor are iconic of the Fancy Feast brand, so very little mention or visual of the can or brand is needed to trigger recognition among the target audience of cat owners. Indeed, so heavily does it rely on imagery that someone who doesn’t own a cat might really think it’s a jewelry store commercial—and for that we have to thank the Purina company because I wouldn’t be surprised if it sends more than one prospective groom out to find a ring as beautiful as the one worn by the fiancée/bride in the ads. The ads, now a full miniseries on YouTube, also are tied into Facebook with a special romance competition.