If jewelry could have a life, what features would you attribute to them? Luxury, opulence, extravagance, or perhaps snobbism? Or would it be rather style, elegance, and grandeur? You’d be right with all these, but not entirely. What would you think if we told you that jewels have the ability to be humble? It’s hard to believe at first but this is how reality is. And it is not only us who are saying this.

Gemfields, a leading supplier of responsibly sourced colored gemstones, has set up a plan to prove that gems can be a declaration of simplicity and ‘normality’. Through its latest campaign, the mining company wants to capture your attention by showing that Every Piece [is] Unique in its own way and Gemfields invites you to discover their beauty through personification.

In order to get the best results, the brand appointed Gutenberg Global, a creative production branch of DDB Group, as a god to the newly-born gemstones. Think of them as some sort of Adam and Eve roaming free in the Eden Garden. Only that the characters are actually pieces of jewelry and the garden has rubies and emeralds hanging from the crystal-pure sky.

Known for specializing in building customized solutions for any creative challenge, the agency brought the exquisite gemstones mined by the Saint Peter Port-based company to life and created a short video which sees the stones play and interact with each other.

The short-film is set in a modern art gallery, which is closed for the night. But once its doors shut and lights go out, the sculptures on display come to life through gentle dance moves. Each masterpiece has its own soul and dances accordingly to its personality. Now, shall we meet the characters and see how their little party unfolds?

First, we meet a faceted female form, half emerald and half ruby. Her name is Transparency and she symbolizes the founding principle of the company. Then there’s Education, a petite, shy, scroll-like paper sculpture made of emeralds, a sculpture which represents the four schools built by the brand in Mozambique.

Next, we meet with a valiant rhino sculpture named Conservation, made from wood, half-dipped in recycled green gold, and eyes of emerald. The wild animal was chosen to reflect Gemfields’ implication in protecting Africa’s wildlife and biodiversity. A bit more sophisticated is Health, an abstract painting with human forms that is protecting a Fabergé egg. The revived painting stands out as a symbol of the two mobile health clinics founded by the company in Mozambique.

Livelihoods enters the scene next, presented as a large-scale hanging installation, entirely made of rubies and bright blue feathers. The creation beautifully represents the chicken farms and many farming associations the company created in Zambia and Mozambique. Finally, there’s Sustainability, an immense flowering Baobab tree embodying the brand’s approach to mining – reducing impact to the sites and maintaining biodiversity.

“We loved the brief from Gemfields to create a single campaign from one shoot which could deliver enough content to sustain the Gemfields story for two years. The ethics of their business and the number of great programmes they run meant we had lots of stories to tell through our different art pieces/gem-embellished characters. We look forward to watching the story unfold over the next two years,” said Claire Bowers, MD from Gutenberg Global, in a press release.

The six hero artworks will be visible starting this month and will run for two more years. The ad will be featured on BA in-flight TV, Sky AdSmart TV and Teads. Other elements of the ad campaign will run across PR, digital, social and press, including OOH. Who said that jewels can’t be more than just an accessory?

Credits:

Client: Gemfields

Agency: Gutenberg Global
Account Director: Katerina Krimitsou
Producer: Panos Louca & Rachel Amess
Creatives: Sali Horsey & Zoe Nash

MPC Creative
Executive Producer: James Nikklason
Directors: Future Deluxe (Adrian Lawrence; James Callahan)
CG Superviso : Martino Madeddu
VFX Supervisor: Alex Gabucci
VFX Producer: Magda Krimitsou