How Pandora Struck Viral Gold

Mother’s Day is approaching – and luckily for all of us, thanks to all the brands constantly reminding us, there’s no accidentally forgetting Mom on her big day. It’s a big consumer sale opportunity, but the brands who approach it from a different angle are the winners. 

This year’s big viral hit is the heartstring-puller from Pandora. “The Unique Connection,” the video the jewelry brand released earlier this month, is averaging a million views per day. 

Why is it resonating so strongly? For one thing, as the name implies, it focuses on the mother-child connection – not on the jewelry the brand sells (which the women in the video are, of course, wearing). It doesn’t even bring the brand name in until the very end of the 2-minute mini-movie. Yes, 2 minutes – and today’s gnat-attention-spanned viewers are mesmerized enough to sit all the way through and find out who gets the credit for this small-screen masterpiece. 

And that’s the other reason that Pandora is winning this year’s Mother’s Day marketing race: their advert is completely authentic. Tapping into the indescribable bond between mother and child, viewers who are mothers will well up with tears, thinking about how their little ones would pick them out of a line-up, blindfolded, just by feeling their faces. Plus – and this is a big plus – all of us, not just moms, can remember being that little child. We remember looking up to our own mother, adoring her. She was the sun of our little universe. 

This may be the bigger heart-wrencher. It also may be the second thing we think of – which is why I think Pandora could nail it again next year with a sequel that shows blindfolded adults identifying their mothers through facial touch.

Whatever their plans for next year, Pandora has assured its place in the consideration set for all of us purchasing Mother’s Day gifts this year. They’ve also made an important statement about their brand, one that is completely supported by the video. Rather than point us toward one or two particular pieces, as jewelry ads are wont to do, they have created a mood around “the unique connection” that invites us to find the unique piece for our own one-of-a-kind mom. Do they have the right one for my beautiful mother? I don’t know…but I am going to find out. And I can’t remember the last time a brand video was directly responsible for making me do that.