EditorsNov 06, 2026
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IndependentsDec 21, 2015
For Christmas, Retailer References 'The Ring'
Bill Longnecker of Longnecker Jewelry in McCook, Neb. came up with a clever, albeit creepy, way to remind customers that Christmas is coming soon.
McCook, Neb.--With each holiday season comes a wave of emotionally charged advertisements designed to remind consumers why people have exchanged gifts of jewelry for thousands of years--to show affection for one another.
Some brands and retailers do so more successfully than their competitors, while others make like Lindsey Buckingham and go their own way with marketing.
Bill Longnecker, owner of Longnecker Jewelry in McCook, Neb., just happens to be among the latter this season, creating an online-only video that is a play on 2002 horror classic The Ring.
He said his employee Janelle Williams came up with the idea of incorporating the movie into their social media marketing for the holiday season.
WATCH: The Ring, 2015
The store has been counting down to Christmas on its Facebook page since Dec. 13 (12 days out), and did The Ring spoof for the seven-days-to-go post because of the movie’s association with the number seven. (For those who haven’t seen it, the movie centers on a cursed videotape that kills the viewer seven days after they see it.)
To make the video, Longnecker joked that he employed someone with “crazy video talent”--himself.
He shot Williams, the short film’s star and also lone actor, on his iPhone with the sepia filter in slow motion, though he confessed he didn’t know he had activated the slow-motion function on his iPhone until it was done. The music playing in the background is Manheim Steamroller’s Halloween theme music.
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It was simple, quick, inexpensive and something the small-town store was hoping would go viral.
Though it hasn’t, Williams and Longnecker don’t feel like they misfired by doing something different that definitely doesn’t tug at the heartstrings.
Williams said almost everyone in McCook (pop. 7,000) knows her and would “get a kick” out of seeing her in this role. Longnecker concurred.
“We just thought it would be fun,” he said.
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