Diamond hunt sparkles on social media

23 Sep 2014

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The world’s most valuable treasure hunt took place in Cheltenham on Saturday 13 September with 10 diamonds worth a £1000 each hidden across the town by jeweller Beards.

The event raised £7500 for Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre in Cheltenham and donations are still coming in.

[Tweet “The event organised by @beardsjewellers raised £7500 for Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre in Cheltenham.”]

Media coverage was extensive both before, during and after the event with Sky News providing regular updates. Social media played its part too with @BeardsJewellers tweeting before the event with #diamondrush to raise awareness and encourage people to buy treasure maps and make donations.

#diamondrush maps go on sale TOMORROW at Beards Jewellers from 09.30. Priced at £10 each, these maps are your ticket to take part! GOOD LUCK
— Beards Jewellers (@BeardsJewellers) August 31, 2014

On the day itself, social media really came into its own adding to the excitement and proving vital for information gathering. Occasional clues were tweeted and updates posted whilst treasure hunters were encouraged to tweet selfies, their search efforts and of course diamonds. 100s of people were seen around Cheltenham frantically looking for the treasure, smartphones in hand.

The man in the music shop doesn’t know either #diamondrush @chrisilston pic.twitter.com/4oAYrxirFO
— Mads (@ABitOfMadeline) September 13, 2014

Treasure hunters got off to a flying start with the first diamond found in The Daffodil Restaurant just 6 minutes after the event started. By 1.30pm there was just one more diamond to be found and it was discovered behind a picture in the corridor to the underground car park of the Montpellier Chapter Hotel at 1.30pm. I’m familiar with the location as I walked right past it 10 minutes before!

Post by Beards Jewellers.

As if there wasn’t enough excitement, there were marriage proposals from two of the winners! Scott Thompson @SCOTTDOGG11 got down on one knee in Beards to pop the question and give his diamond to girlfriend Lucienne Simpson @luciennesimpson. On the Monday after the event a live radio proposal was made to Bridget Beardsley @muskalous by boyfriend Nick Warbank. In case you were wondering, both proposals were accepted.

Just found me a diamond!! @BeardJewelers #diamondrush pic.twitter.com/NvoosQv0bw
— scott thompson (@SCOTTDOGG11) September 13, 2014

Points of learning

Before, during and after - Social media can be effective not just before the event for but also during the event and afterwards. The marriage proposal 2 days after #Diamondrush was an opportunity not missed by Beards for further social media activity.

Encourage engagement - Social media allows your clients and customers to communicate about you and with you, so encourage engagement around your competition or promotion. In #Diamondrush participants were encouraged to post and tweet their photos.

Real time reporting - Take advantage of social media’s real time nature. The @beardsjewellers account was in overdrive on event day tweeting ‘breaking news’, tweeting photos and engaging with participants.

Involve stakeholders - Venues involved in the event did their bit providing updates, retweeting @beardsjewellers tweets and providing hyper local clues and updates. The PR and Marketing companies supporting the event got involved too.

If you need advice on how to use social media to maximise the benefits of your competition, promotion or campaign please get in touch.

[Tweet “Need advice on using social media in a campaign? Contact @intranetfuture.”]