Valentine's Day: Self-love and singletons at the heart of brand campaigns this year
There has been a shift in focus for brands in 2024 with an ironic 'Anti-Valentine's' approach in their marketing initiatives this year
Valentine's Day is a big draw for brands every year as they unveil their marketing initiatives celebrating the love and happiness of romantic relationships. This year, brands have been tilting their focus towards "self-love" over romantic love in their marketing campaigns and initiatives.
With #selflove #selfcare trending on social media and countless reels advocating single life, brands have surely taken note of a wider audience that has felt left out. The rise of singles who are trying to understand all the nuances of modern dating has urged brands to cater to their need for the week that irks them.
People are more about self-love and self-care, as per Tinder’s Future of Dating Report, 2023, “80% of 18-25-year-olds agree that their own self-care is their top priority when dating and 79% want prospective partners to do the same.” With this insight in mind, brands have been promoting the celebration of Galentine's or Malentine’s Day with offers, deals and more.
Weighing in on this paradigm shift in brands' communication stance, Amit Wadhwa, CEO at Dentsu Creative India said “Every brand wants to stand out and they want to give a point of view that is different yet relatable. Anything which has an ‘anti’ approach is bound to make a noise. Brands are just following the trend of young adults keeping self-love first.”
“I've gotta give props to the creativity behind these campaigns—they sure know how to make everyone feel special. It's about time we shook things up with some new, inclusive traditions, don't you think?”, said Geet Kumar, Founder of Twitchy Thoughts.
Here are the few campaigns that e4m came across that promoted ‘self-love’ through their campaigns.
MyMuse’s #CancelCupid
Recently, MyMuse, a health and wellness brand launched a series of TV commercials centred on dismissing the role of Cupid, conveying the message that "Modern Love Needs Modern Solutions." Timed strategically during Valentine’s week, MyMuse has effectively communicated that relationships have evolved, emphasizing that individuals are increasingly comfortable with being single and not actively seeking romantic love.
Speaking to e4m on this approach, Minhaz Fatima, Head of Brand Communications said, “In 2024, the meaning of love and the way people love have changed. It's not as one-dimensional as it used to be; people’s experiences with relationships have changed. With this campaign, we have tried to bring out the essence of modern love. We are not against Valentine’s Day, but we think that love has evolved, especially in today’s age.”
Cadbury 5 Star’s Erase Valentine’s Day
Similar to last year's campaign, Cadbury 5 Star had been building on to their campaign "Escape Valentine’s". Along the same lines, the brand has come up with "Erase Valentine’s Day" this year, wherein they have partnered with the legendary space scientist Nambi Narayanan, to introduce a unique ‘time travel vessel’, a ship named F.N.S. Cringe Vinash. It will be sent to cross the International Date Line between American Samoa and Samoa at exactly 11:59 pm on 13 February 2024 (American Samoa Time), thereby crossing the 24-hour threshold and setting foot into 15 February, 12:00 am - the local time on the other side of the International Date Line thus, skipping 24 hours of Valentine’s day in a single minute.
Speaking on the campaign, Nitin Saini, VP- Marketing, Mondelez India, said in a statement, “Cadbury 5Star is an embodiment of bold cheekiness and mischief, and the current campaign will meet a new level of whimsy by doing the impossible – Erase Valentine’s Day. Since last year escaping Valentine’s Day was just not enough for some, we wanted to break the mush meter altogether for the 5 Star fanatics, and fast-forwarding the day seemed like the only way to accomplish the mission while also offering a rollercoaster ride of laughter and endless banter. We hope this first-of-a-kind voyage with 5 Star will be a successful one with the mission as a new ray of hope for singles who will hopefully join us as Mission Engineers to make this collective dream come true.”
Sukesh Nayak, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy India added that "5 Star has been surprising audiences every year with crazy digs at Valentine's Day. But this time, when Karunasagar Sridharan proposed the idea of literally erasing the day using time travel, we instantly knew that this was going to be bigger than anything we've done, and a mammoth task to pull off. Fortunately, the Ogilvy Experiential Marketing Team led by Krishnakant Mishra managed to move mountains and get a ship to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and our Ogilvy teams have orchestrated everything from a detailed live stream event in the middle of nowhere to a mission control room, and to add to the craziness, they've even brought in a legend like Nambi Narayanan to explain the science behind the mission. Every 'do nothing' campaign on 5 Star has been loved by audiences and we are looking forward to the buzz our latest instalment generates."
Ajio’s #VdayNahiMeDay
Conceptualized by Youngun, Ajio has made efforts to turn V-day into Me-day through video and OOH campaigns. While the video talks about people not being able to celebrate Valentine’s Day and being stuck in the shackles of ‘Situationships’, the OOH hoarding is giving discounts if one is still stuck on their ex-partners.
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JACK & JONES
Promoting Malentines during Valentine's and the love for 'Bros', the brand has came up with an AI-powered campaign generating lyrics and music to express love. The campaign is conceptualised by W.A.Y.S.
Sagar Mehta, Co-founder & Chief Creative at W.A.Y.S. said that anything which is 'Anti' is cool for GenZs. "It creates conversations and easier to generate traction. Brands love to stand out and this route helps them."
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Eloelo App’s Anti-Valentine’s Digital Campaign #KunwaraDiwas
The company along with Abhishek Malhan filed a nationwide petition on change.org to rename Valentine’s Day to #KunwaraDiwas with Abhishek Malhan.
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Blinkit’s Mode Switch
Blinkit, Zomato’s fast delivery app, has come up with a new user interface giving an option of switching modes, wherein the user can switch the ‘Single Mode’ on. With a huge user base, Blinkit surely wants to make everyone feel inclusive this week.
