Memorable Valentine's Day Campaigns
We thought we'd lighten things up on the blog today and shed some light on fun and memorable Valentine's Day-themed marketing campaigns that stood out to us over the last few years—and how they incorporated the digital touch to make it successful with their customers. These campaigns stood out from the rest because they didn't take the conventional route, but instead found creative ways to leverage the warm and fuzzies with a twist.
1-800-Flowers' Cupid Commercial
Overview: In this 2019 commercial, Cupid voiced his frustration with 1-800 Flower for buying him out.
Cupid exclaims, "Ever since 1-800 Flowers, I've been out of a job!"
The commercial features a shirtless Cupid in costume, sitting in front of phones that no longer ring. He goes on to say, "Cupid is no longer required to communicate love. All they need now is to call 1-800-Flowers."
Digital Marketing Takeaway: The viewer sees the brand's website and its offerings screenshots as the complaining continues. Once the viewer visits the website, they are met with relevant, specific messaging regarding Valentine’s Day offerings, deals, and ways to buy. They are already sold on the value of the product.
The ad is an excellent example of how a company can use a fictional scenario to highlight what makes their product stand out from the playing field and offers a clear call-to-action to its audience. Consumers like simple, easy-to-remember and understand services. They don’t want a complicated online process, but a seamless transition. This is what we, in the digital marketing world, call great CX. Because people spend so much time on YouTube, where it’s nearly impossible to avoid commercials, short, sweet, to-the-point ads like a flower-selling cupid will without a doubt increase customer conversion.
Deliveroo and "Third-Wheel Kevin"
Overview: Many people have described themselves as "third wheels," or the sole single person hanging out with one or more couples. Many of these folks know how awkward or uncomfortable a couple's holidays, such as Valentine's Day, may be.
That's why Deliveroo, a British online food delivery company, devised Valentine's Day-themed commercial featuring Kevin, a third wheel, rather than a loving couple we're accustomed to seeing.
Digital Marketing Takeaway: Forgoing the normal video format for commercials, this one is shot “documentary-style,” capturing the viewer’s attention from the start and depicting Kevin’s life as an eternally single person constantly surrounded by couples. As the commercial progresses, it addresses the bizarre, awkward, and entirely false thoughts that single individuals may have about themselves. (Putting themselves in the consumer’s shoes, which as we know is the key to good CX!)
Because audiences may relate to the ad’s sarcasm, ’the vendor’s name is likely to stick with them as a memorable campaign (increasing brand loyalty). They may even consider Deliveroo the next time they purchase a Valentine’s Day meal for themselves or “third-wheeling” friends. Once audiences went with Deliveroo, they were also onboarded to an app (either on their computer or phone) to convert/make purchases.
Deliveroo updated their consumer persona beyond the typical couple that many would expect to market to on this holiday. By doing so, they didn’t necessarily ostracize consumers who are in a relationship, but instead, said their product isn’t JUST for couples, but for ANYONE with an appetite (third-wheel or not). Many are taking to this CX trend in 2022, choosing to re-evaluate and update their ideal consumer personas.
Ranch Dressings Customized Bottle
Overview: While floral companies and B2C brands promoted romantic presents that couples might give one other in 2021, Hidden Valley took a humorous twist to the campaign by selling consumers personalized Valentine’s Day-themed Ranch salad dressing bottles.
Digital Marketing Takeaway: Brands understand the value of providing a tailored consumer experience. Almost 65% of customers say they desire individualized experiences. In fact, a study conducted by Kibo Commerce said brands with tailored web experiences see a 19% increase in sales on average.
Personalize your content and services wherever you can to increase your conversions and improve CX! While Hidden Valley’s product may appear to be an unusual present to some, they understood their market, and how their customers love to smother everything in Ranch dressing. This gift is amusing, individualized, and valuable to those individuals. In addition, through the consumer creating their tailored product—Hidden Valley can capture additional data on them and their preferences; ensuring future digital marketing campaigns continue to be delivered to the consumer at the right time, in the right channel, with the right message.
So what do all of these commercials have in common? They all focus on creating a seamless and intuitive CX journey for viewers. Each brand has done its homework by determining what audience they’re focusing on. They’ve made it easy for the customer to understand why their brand should be considered over competitors. They’ve increased their brand awareness by creating these unconventional campaigns and they’ve told the audience exactly how to attain their services.
The list of hilarious and memorable Valentine's Day marketing campaigns could stretch for pages and pages, but what are the main takeaways for brands considering Valentine's Day Campaign?
Grab your audience's attention – If you want to compete with this oversaturated landscape, grab and keep the viewer's attention with entertaining and valuable information.
Create relatable, personalized content – customers are often bombarded with high-budget Valentine's Day ads that provide no meaningful or valuable information. Make sure your material is relatable and authentic.
Explore different platforms and digital channels – There's no rule explicitly imploring brands to use a specific social media platform; many companies are still embracing physical campaign strategies like billboards and flourishing. And don’t forget to track and measure the performance of your campaigns through your marketing channels! (Be it emails, website visits, utilization of your app, etc.…)
If you find yourself struggling to create clear messaging, need help building your own customer personas or even creating CX journeys, we’re here to help. Let’s chat!
