Everywhere you look
St. Valentine’s Day is not only a holiday of lovers but also a mega-important item that should not be missing in the schedule of any proficient marketer. On that day, consumers are ready and willing to spend their savings. We may even say that after Christmas, it is the first opportunity of such a calibre. And the current pandemic-affected time changes nothing on this fact.
Gross estimates indicate that in the US, people plan to spend nearly $ 22 billion this year. Online shopping will very likely prevail, which means that predominantly various e-shop operators should be on alert. In this case, it is relatively easy to identify which segments are affected in the first place. They include St. Valentine’s Day classics. Although it may seem a cliché, on St. Valentine’s Day we most often take confectioner’s, florist’s, jeweller’s, beauty and skincare, sports and conventional fashion stores, as well as restaurants and wellness and fitness centres by storm. And it is still true that St. Valentine’s Day is one of the largest marketing opportunities of the year.
Any effective advertising must have a defined target. The solution is obvious - as St. Valentine’s Day is a holiday of those in love, the targets will be married and partner couples. But in fact, such a schematic explanation may harm advertising. We have to remember that the concept of love is much broader. It may be experienced by individuals or entire families. Love has a different expression with respect to kids or pets. And we definitely should not underestimate love to ourselves as it is the key to a happy life.
Ingenious St Valentine’s advertising works predominantly with the inclusive approach rather than the exclusive one. Such advertising depicts love in its varied spectrum. It is not trying to exclude anyone, on the contrary. Its success is driven by the ability to evoke a feeling that love is something anyone deserves - despite the fact that we all have different ideas of love. The core is a deep human story - and as we have already seen, it is a category that has no limits at all.
From heart-shaped boxes to billion-dollar businesses
St. Valentine’s Day is a controversial issue for many people. They mostly complain that the holiday has in fact become a celebration of a commercial and materialistic way of life, that the most important is often forgotten behind the curtain of price tags and hidden intentions. The history of this significant day is somewhat troubled. 14 February is the day on which St. Valentine was executed in the ancient Rome - this date was consecrated to him ex post by the medieval Catholic Church.
When exactly did St. Valentine’s Day become an opportunity to show the best marketing ideas? In 1714, the Swedish king Charles II was the first pioneer who became famous for communicating through flowers and meanings that are connected to their colours. A red rose is a symbol of love. We owe the trivia to this member of the Scandinavian nobility. More than a hundred years later, the first heart-shaped box of chocolates was sold in Great Britain. It was produced by the Cadbury chocolatier that has been popular to this day. Cadbury moved the lovers’ holiday to a completely new direction.
The first Valentine’s Day-themed advertising campaigns were created by gift card producers and they were run no sooner than in the 20th century. The lovers’ day was slowly becoming a golden mine. A definitive breakthrough occurred in 1980’s and since then, billions and billions of dollars have been circulating in similar marketing campaigns. The symbols remain more or less the same - we still stick to hearts and red roses. But the wealth of communication channels offers new challenges and opportunities with social networks being a major contributor. It is logical especially in this era when e-commerce is experiencing an unprecedented boom in absolute figures.
But it is still truth that the best way to pass on a message is through creative and audio visual means. The most prestigious brands across the world know it very well and therefore no death knell rings for St. Valentine’s Day advertising. There is no harm in reminding ourselves what TV spots undoubtedly succeeded in warming our hearts.
Vodafone Red – The Kiss (2013)
We can definitely consider St. Valentine’s Day story of the telecommunication giant Vodafone to be of traditionalist nature. Yet it captures very well the longing that we have probably all felt at some point. The legendary TV spot with a brief name The Kiss offers its viewers the fantasy of a unique and never-ending love, which is the appropriate ingredient for a happy life. The one that goes with us from a very young age to the time of advanced old age. From the cradle to the grave, so to speak.
This is exactly what the ad depicts. A kiss of a child couple that gradually becomes a trip through the children’s lives with the love kiss being something that is present in any situation at any age. It is exactly the story that a mobile operator wants to tell because its entire business model is based on connecting people who may be hundreds of kilometres away.
The original story is produced by the UK advertising agency Grey, which set a substantial benchmark of depicting love in advertising in 2013. The agency boasts the most shared Valentine’s Day ad of all time. The best things in life simply never end.
</p" width="560" height="315">Video: Vodafone Red – The Kiss (2013)
Google – Parisian Love (2010)
Are you looking for love? Why not try using a full-text search engine. This message, which seems to be tailored to the reality of the 21st century, was presented in 2010 by a firm that accompanies many of us in our daily lives - the most popular online search engine Google. On YouTube the ad has a record of nearly 8 million views. Ironically, the ad was originally not tied to St. Valentine’s Day. No, this advertising masterpiece was first run on TV screens during a special broadcast of the Super Bowl.
The launch of the ad triggered a flurry of activity on various social networks and other channels. Google was not famous as a producer of TV ads. It was the first TV spot through which the company sought to promote its new search engine Google Chrome. In combination with this wow effect, the ad fully deserves all the praise it receives. If you ever look for the rankings of the best adverts of the decade or of all time, Google's Parisian Love will definitely be among them.
At first sight, the spot might seem quite a depersonalised story. The whole scene comprises nothing more than a search bar. But it artfully conveys a simple Parisian love story, step by step. The writer first tries to get some tips via Google on how to charm a Parisian girl and we gradually get to the stage when the couple is looking for a place to live together in one of the Paris suburbs. A simple yet highly effective concept.
Video: Google – Parisian Love (2010)
Coca Cola – Love is in the Air (2013)
Companies whose product presentation is based on red elements may seem to have an immeasurable competitive advantage on St. Valentine’s Day. Coca Cola is proof of that. Its contribution to the love advertising library literally surprises with red motifs. The cliché says that on 14 February, love is in the air. And the US food giant decided to take it literally.
The leitmotiv of the whole campaign is the ability to spread feelings of happiness and love all over the world. In this case, the carriers of the feelings are red balls that can carry a love message, a blooming rose, a Coca Cola can or simply a kind gesture that can make a recipient smile. And so can Coca Cola whose global presence is one of its corporate trademarks. The company just wants to connect people irrespective of geographic borders.
Basically, it is a very simple ad that is meant to affect emotions. And it is undoubtedly successful in doing so. Once again, Coca Cola demonstrates that it is capable of playing with the cards it has. Love, St. Valentine, a rose bouquet, Coca Cola - a simple sequence that logically comes to our mind when we look at the red colour.
Video: Coca Cola – Love is in the Air (2013)
eHarmony – How kids see Valentine’s Day (2017)
What is love? Do we imagine love as the same thing at any age? The online dating agency eHramony was looking for answers to these questions in 2017. In the TV spot, it gathered young children who shared their opinions on camera about what they thought St. Valentine’s Day meant. The result is one of the most memorable St. Valentine’s Day ads ever.
By this initiative, eHarmony made a great contribution to the debate on the topic of whether St. Valentine’s Day is not becoming a mindless commercial matter. Innocent answers by young children remind viewers why something like the lovers’ holiday exists, which we may easily forget from time to time. Because the slightly naive yet under any circumstances sincere view is what we miss in our daily lives as everything seems to be much clearer from children’s perspective.
It is also fascinating that a dating website came up with such a clear ad with no equivocation, which is not a guarantee of good taste in TV history. eHarmony outsmarted everyone, proving that in similar situations we should not be prejudiced. eHarmony’s St. Valentine’s Day ad might not have been expected by anyone but once seen, it is very hard to forget.
Video: eHarmony – How kids see Valentine’s Day (2017)
Tesco – Introducing Basket Dating (2016)
Our list would not be complete if we failed to remind in at least one example that “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”. Retail chains do not forget this fact and the UK’s Tesco decided to elaborate on the idea in 2016. Its effort resulted in a unique social experiment, which is still fascinating years later. In many respects, it goes beyond what we would have expected from a simple TV ad.
For the purposes of this campaign, Tesco teamed with a professional matchmaker, i.e. a relationship psychologist focusing on partner compatibility. Under her professional supervision, contents of shopping baskets of Tesco customers were compared and shoppers were classified on this basis depending on the compatibility of consumer preferences. Selected couples met for a dinner and could try a mediated blind date.
It is another example where an ordinary cliché obtained a completely new and surprising meaning thanks to marketing. With this ad campaign, Tesco managed to affect real lives of some participants. Two of the selected couples expressed their wish to meet at a non-mediated second date. Although it is not known how things went on, the authors of the experiment may be justly proud of themselves.
Video: Tesco – Introducing Basket Dating (2016)
Chanel – No 5 The Film (2004)
A breathtaking film love story can be played out even within a time-limited format of a TV ad. The world-famous perfumery Chanel made an attempt to do something like that in 2004. When else but on Valentine’s Day should a company whose sense of romance is inherently inscribed in its DNA come up with this idea? Chanel invited the most competent experts for help.
The legendary TV spot underwent the same production as if it were a feature film. Led by the Australian master of film burlesque and fairy-tale narratives, Baz Luhrmann, a love story about a famous actress willing to escape at least for a minute from her celebrity life and experience something that happens once in a lifetime played out on screens. Despite her media history, she manages to do so on New York roofs decorated with a large neon billboard promoting Channel’s legendary No 5. The world-famous star of this micro-story was none other than Nicole Kidman supported by, at that time less famous, Rodrigo Santoro.
It is not a model to by copied by any company. Because of the film stars and the visual technical excellence, the cost of producing this unique ad exceeded $ 42 million. There is no doubt Chanel can afford it and it goes hand in hand with its high-couture brand profile. Chanel presented one of the most ambitious St. Valentine’s Day ads. And it did so at a time when such a thing was certainly not taken for granted.
Video: Chanel – No 5 The Movie (2004)
Deadpool – True Love Never Dies (2016)
Marvel’s first Deadpool was scheduled to premiere on St. Valentine’s weekend, which was a surprising step taken by the studio to put it mildly. Around that date, cinema theatres mostly show romantic comedies. This strategy was accepted with a raised eyebrow rather than an approving nod. Yet Marvel has confirmed to be the master of the field. Sceptics were persuaded not only by the box office success but also by the preceding St. Valentine’s Day-oriented promotional campaign. The studio made the most of the convenient premiere date.
The lion’s share of the credit goes to the film’s star, Ryan Reynolds, who became an inseparable face of the campaign that was using everything from movie posters to promo videos and trailers. In the context of Marvel’s creation, Deadpool is an amusing, de facto light film that undoubtedly fits into the relaxed atmosphere of St. Valentine’s Day.
And this may be our advice to be given in conclusion. If you are to promote a product that seemingly has nothing in common with the lovers’ holiday it does not necessarily mean that it is unfeasible. Deadpool marketers proved that such a task may be performed most effectively so that others are green with envy. St. Valentine’s Day is not all about established clichés, it is rather about breaking them down and making the most of them. Fortunately, we can find proofs of that repeatedly and not only in the TV marketing.
Video: Deadpool – True Love Never Dies (2016)
