14 Feb Be my Valentine – Brands tapping into the single market
It’s that time of the year again – the shops are full of flowers and chocolate, everywhere you look are varying shades of pink and singletons everywhere are made to feel that little bit worse about their relationship status – or are they?
In recent years brands have latched onto the singleton’s plight and started adapting their marketing strategies to a newer, more modern take on V-day. Valentine’s Day has love at its core – but people are no longer merely celebrating their love for their significant others – best friends, family, favourite co-workers and even pets are now getting the attention they deserve.
And brands are hopping on the band wagon with innovative campaigns which skirt traditional Valentine’s Day content. A clever business move when you consider that a third of the UK’s adult population of the UK is single and has thus far been an untapped market come February 14th.
Non-traditional Valentine’s content comes in many forms. On one end of the spectrum we have ‘Galentine’s’, where February 14th is aimed at celebrating female friendships as opposed to the usual pressure of finding a date. In line with this message, in 2017 Nina Ricci created their #MyBestValentine campaign, which encourages their customers to send in photos and videos of best friends and their perfumes and then features them across their social media platforms in a display of girl power.
Everyman Cinema has also embraced Galentine’s by putting on screenings of iconic chick-flicks Mean Girls and Legally Blonde – rom-coms served up with a side of complimentary cocktails mean a fantastically girly evening is a given.
On the other, slightly less wholesome end of the spectrum there is the anti-valentine’s day movement, a sort of cathartic celebration of all things ex-boyfriend/girlfriend.
For the release of Harley Quinn’s new post-joker-break-up film, Birds of Prey, Warner Bros and Burger King have teamed up to give a free Whopper to anyone who brings a physical photo of their ex to throw in a themed breakup box.
A zoo in Texas, has launched a tongue-in-cheek event called ‘Quit Bugging Me’, where jilted lovers are able to have the zoo name a cockroach after their ex and then feed it to hungry meerkats live on camera.
Sydney Zoo has gone even further and launched a hilarious competition where visitors can pay $1 to enter a competition where they could name one of the world’s most venomous snakes after their snaky ex.
In sweeter animal-themed activations, Coors Light is celebrating millennials who shun standard Valentine’s traditions by rewarding those who spend the day with a dog instead. The campaign will pay $100 toward pet adoption fees for the first 1,000 participants to text a picture of their adoption receipt.
Regardless of whether you’re team Galentine’s or team anti-Valentines, this modern take on February 14th opens new possibilities for products and designs way beyond the traditional hearts and flowers and a potentially whole new market.
Let’s not forget, however Valentines day continues to be one of the biggest commercial retail opportunities – UK are projected to spend $1.45 billion for one day!
Regardless of whether you’re buying flowers and dinner for your significant other or you are single and staying in with your friends or using the excuse to do something special for yourself – love may be free but Valentine’s Day as we know it is not!