Now that our bank accounts have had time to recover from the year-end shopping season, hearts and flowers are beginning to entice shoppers into considering the next big retail purchasing event: Valentine’s Day. Research shows that this holiday has marketing opportunities not limited to couples in a relationship: in 2020, 27.6 million households were projected to spend money on their dogs for Valentine’s Day, with about half as many (17.1 million) planning to spend money on their cats.
According to the National Retail Federation, those who are single may not spring for the dinner, flowers, wine, and chocolate typical of the lovestruck. Still, in 2018, half of singles who were not celebrating the holiday planned to hang out with other single friends or splurge on themselves. While the total number of people celebrating the holiday has dropped over the past few years, per-person spending is increasing.
Brands and influencers do a great job tying products to every aspect of the holiday, and we’ve rounded up a selection to show you how they do it.
Tiffany & Co.
Instagram is all about the visuals, and in 2018, Tiffany & Co. launched a user-generated content campaign called “The Tiffany Tattoo Shop.” The jewelry company invited their followers to use Tiffany’s tattoo generator to create and share brand-inspired stickers.
Users were encouraged to place these customized stickers on their photos so that they look like tattoos and send them to people as valentines.
To create the tattoo stickers, users had to log onto the Tiffany & Co. site and use the sticker designer. Choosing from templates and then customizing the backgrounds, colors, and finally, a custom message, users would also see gift ideas interspersed on the page. Tiffany subtly reminded site visitors that they could buy physical gifts as well as sending digital valentines, and did it all in a fun, low-pressure way. This campaign was a part of Tiffany’s cartoon-style video and image campaign that used humor to urge people to spend their valentine’s budget on Tiffany items.
The Body Shop: #SendingAKiss
All-natural and cruelty-free cosmetic company The Body Shop launched a user-generated content campaign to showcase their new line of lipstick and lip glosses. They created a contest (with lip products as prizes) based on the concept of “Galentine’s Day”: where single gals hang out together on Valentine’s Eve, February 13th.
While the concept of Galentine’s Day started as a plot device on Parks and Recreation, it quickly gained traction among single women. So when The Body Shop encouraged fans to take selfies of themselves blowing kisses, tag it #sendingakiss, and send it to a girlfriend to enter the contest. Instead of trying to spin lipstick as a Valentine’s gift, The Body Shop capitalized on a cultural trend that celebrates the camaraderie of women.
The Power of Gü
Gearing up for Valentine’s Day 2020, dessert brand Gü has launched a line of “Love Notes” packaging for their frozen cheesecake desserts that incorporate love-related messages. Inspired by “a selection of some of the most iconic love songs,” these quotes include things like, “I’m in love with the shape of Gü”; “Got my mind set on Gü”; “And I will always love Gü”; “I can’t take my eyes off of you”; and “Cuz all of me loves all of Gü.”
This packaging refresh will run until February 16th, 2020, building on the success of last year’s campaign. The brand reached its highest sales numbers during Valentine’s week last year by expanding into the holiday’s market for chilled desserts. Gü is capitalizing on the sweet tooth of Valentine’s shoppers to reach new customers and introduce them to their sumptuous desserts. By crafting a well-timed campaign, Gü intends to show the power of its message and continue the trend of engaging new customers across Valentine’s Day 2020.
The campaign’s strategy centers around local, out-of-home messages, including in-store, social media, and outdoor. Gü expects to see a “significant uplift” across this period by inviting them to share the perfect dessert with their loved ones. Influencers and avid fans of Gu desserts use Twitter and Instagram to spread the love, and with the launch of gluten-free and vegan options, their customer base will continue to grow.
Whether your customers are hanging out with other singles, shopping for gifts, or looking for the perfect self-indulgence for their night in, these social media influencers have a message that sells.
For additional ideas on how to launch your own successful influencer campaign, we suggest incentivizing your own influencers to produce user-generated content. By using Refersion, you’ll be able to easily manage, track, and scale your whole campaign.
