Public Relations-ships on Valentine’s Day

Love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day is impossible to ignore, even if you wish you could.  Flowers, chocolates and stuffed animals flood grocery and gift store aisles. Promotional messages continually urge us to make the holiday special – whether or not you have a valentine. 

This February 14th, you may be dining with a significant other, hitting the town with your single friends or refusing to celebrate the holiday entirely.  Either way, Valentine’s Day offers three major lessons for public relations practitioners: 

1) Valentine’s Day is Not for Everyone

There’s a reason Valentine’s Day has been nicknamed “Singles Awareness Day.”  Being alone on this holiday can be miserable, and marketing campaigns that remind singles of their loneliness aren’t likely to win any awards.  Promotions that offer exciting opportunities and enticing possibilities, however, combat the stigma associated with Valentine’s Day by offering sweet rewards.  For instance, Krispy Kreme’s Love Roulette offers individuals the chance to find their “one in a dozen” by matching them with a random date, and participants are rewarded with a coupon for a free doughnut.  Who doesn’t love free food?

2) Not Everyone Loves Chocolate

Public relations is a lot like dating.  The better you understand your audience or industry, the better you can tailor your pitch, and the more fruitful your relationship will be.  You wouldn’t buy someone with diabetes chocolate for Valentine’s Day, and you shouldn’t spam reporters with irrelevant pitches.  Demonstrating familiarity with its audience, online retailer Mark & Spencer reached out to its primarily male clientele by incorporating a lingerie model into a campaign to entice shoppers to visit the website and purchase last-minute Valentine’s Day gifts.

3) Clichés are Only Cute on Valentine’s Day

In the PR world, originality is key.  Finding a new way to say the same thing may give you an edge on the competition.  Valentine’s Day traditions may be romantic, but for a public relations professional, redundancy can be crippling.  Starbucks illustrated the value of creativity last year with a Valentine’s Day-themed augmented reality cup.  Customers could use their smartphones to transform a simple heart image on their coffee cups into an interactive graphic with fluttering flower petals.  

Whether you embrace or reject Valentine’s Day, the holiday presents several lessons for PR professionals to keep in mind all year long. (Thanks for the reminder, @punchcomms.)  Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!