• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Must every brand run valentine’s day campaigns?

WHAT DOES LOVE MEAN TO YOU?

Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14th of every calendar year. This one-day event has become one of the biggest non-traditional holidays, in many societies across the globe. Research affirms that the build up to the day, in terms of brand and media fervor, is only surpassed by Christmas, which is widely regarded as the biggest traditional holiday in the world.

Valentine’s Day presents a tremendous opportunity for brands to advertise their products with the hype of the special day, increase sales, and get old customers to buy again. However, this is also a dangerous period for marketers, as the day is a delicate topic and potential clients can be easily turned off by tactless, familiar, vulgar, or just plain banal brand messages.

COVID might be in the air and it has, unarguably, greatly affected how we do what we do, but that doesn’t mean love isn’t. A survey says 59% of internet users in the United Kingdom and United States plan on buying a Valentine’s Day gift this year, with U.S. consumer spending predicted to reach over 21 billion U.S dollars.

Words of Caution
These days, it seems like most brands are trying to contextually insert themselves in Valentine messaging, and include their products as romantic gift-giving ideas. But brand owners need to pose the question: is it appropriate for my brand to get involved on Valentine’s Day? By way of example, each year on my birthday I receive messages of birthday wishes from my banks, including the ones I no longer do business with. Even though the messages are automated and are not really reflective of the relationships I have/do not have with them, I still appreciate the gestures. Yet, I will feel like they are making some big assumptions of my love of their services or attitudes if they send me messages on Valentine’s Day, especially considering that not all my accounts are active and running, a position borne out of my disapproval of, and dissatisfaction with, them.

Increasingly, there’s been a migration from the simple, traditional romantic gift ideas of cards, cakes, chocolates, and flowers to try new fast-food brands, alcoholic and non- alcoholic beverages, spas or last-minute gift delivery via your local delivery guy. At the other end of the spectrum, commercialization has been driving the gift-giving stakes much higher. Brands are trying to replace sending ‘small tokens of our affection’ by suggesting that true love should come in the form of high-cost items like automotive brands, jewellery, the latest tech gadget, designer shoes or a deluxe home appliance.

Read also: What’s love got to do with valentine?

All of these commercial tactics have diluted the original sentiment behind Valentine’s Day and left a bitter taste in the mouths of many consumers. Which means hitting the right note around Valentine’s Day can be a minefield for brands. Thus, I would caution all brand teams to run a few gut-checks before committing to a campaign tactic or specific messaging. This could be as simple as deciding if it’s really appropriate or necessary for a customer to receive a Valentine’s message from their loan company?

Valentine’s Day is for everyone
Valentine’s Day has been changing for some time. It’s not just a holiday for couples anymore; it’s an opportunity to celebrate relationships of all kinds. It is true that couples and spouses are still central to the holiday but single, widowed or divorced folks too exist, and Valentine’s Day should not exclude them.

This should serve as a reminder for brands to encourage singletons to look after themselves too. Wellness brands can score a win here by aligning with alternative Valentine days or holidays, ensuring no-one gets left behind. I must say that brands are growing more aware of this, and haven’t shied away from subverting traditional Valentine’s Day messaging. Luxury brand, Nina Ricci, for example, spotlights the importance of friendships via the hashtag #MyBestValentine, while “Galentine’s Day” – held on February 13th – celebrates female accomplishments as well as romantic relationships.

Marketing campaigns should make sense for your brand – for example, if you are a gifting platform, it would definitely make sense to run a Valentine’s Day campaign. Rather than jump on a bandwagon that may not suit your brand or align with your core business and values, create campaigns and celebrations you can truly share with your customer.
One of the biggest mistakes brands make on Valentine’s Day, and any other promotional day for that matter, is tactically creating campaigns that do not align with the brand’s customer journey. Simply put, all marketing content should have a clearly defined job to do as it relates to the customer journey and it should be measured that way.

Last line
No matter how you personally feel about Valentine’s Day, it goes without saying that people are different, as are their attitudes about this day. Someone plans to confess their love for the first time in their life, someone plans to traditionally exchange gifts with their spouse, and some with colleagues or neighbours. The takeaway here is that you can come up with creative ideas to appeal to every one of these groups, if you have to.
I encourage you to figure out how your target audience tends to behave on Valentine’s Day and then think about a campaign concept based on these insights. How can your product be better highlighted on February 14? Could it be a gift, a holiday attribute, or a tool to speak up about feelings?
I hope that this year you will find an interesting angle to fit your products and find a new way to appeal to your target audience.
Happy Valentine!