In 2023, US consumers spent an eye-watering average of $25.9 billion on Valentine’s Day. Across the pond, 33% of people in the UK intended to celebrate with their loved ones.
Love or hate it, Valentine’s Day offers businesses a unique opportunity to increase their visibility and get creative with their marketing.
And, with love in the air, we wanted to tell you all about some of our favourite Valentine’s campaigns past and present.
Toblerone
You don’t just have to buy Toblerone in duty-free!
When it comes to Valentine’s, the Swiss chocolate brand never misses the mark and their 2023 ‘Love Insurance’ campaign was one of our favourites.
There are so many types of relationships out there and this lighthearted campaign celebrated them all.
Toblerone urged people to stop thinking about where a relationship might lead and embrace love because it’s worth it. They launched an online exclusive ‘The Pink Limited Edition Bar’ that came with its own insurance.
If a customer’s relationship didn’t last, they were able to register their purchase with @TobleroneUK on Instagram and receive a voucher to redeem online. This way, they could still enjoy their bar of Toblerone.
Created in partnership with creative agency Le Pub Amsterdam, this campaign was fun, inventive, and celebrated every kind of love!
This year in the run up to Valentine’s, Toblerone has even more special edition gifts. Whether you or your loved one prefer a classic bar or box of chocolates, you can personalise it and use their promotional discount to get more for your money.
With 33% of people in the UK giving chocolate or candy as a gift, it’s no surprise that confectionary brands push their Valentine’s campaigns.
McDonald’s
Given any opportunity, we can count on McDonalds to come up with a unique campaign and their 2023 Valentine’s campaign was no exception.
Debuted during the Super Bowl pregame show, ‘Knowing Their Order’ promoted McDonalds new combo meal. It featured interviews with real couples who shared memories of their McDonald’s experiences and acknowledged the idea that knowing their partner’s order is an act of love.
American rap artists, and real-life couple, Cardi B and Offset appeared in the advert. Following on from the Super Bowl teaser, McDonald’s announced that the ‘Cardi B and Offset Meal’ would be available to order in-store from Valentine’s Day.
According to Tariq Hassan, Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer for McDonald’s US, they’re focused on ‘putting McDonald’s at the centre of culture’.
‘Knowing Their Order’ is just one of McDonald’s marketing collaborations that aim to bring in a new generation of customers and increase sales.
Pandora
In 2021, Pandora extended its range for Valentine’s Day with a selection of romance-inspired pieces.
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Pandora released ‘Little Acts of Love’.
In this short film Pandora asked real-life couples and friends about thoughtful gestures that help them celebrate each other on Valentine’s Day.
From planning new adventures and finding ways to make each other feel good, to a hug and prioritising time together, the film showcased the beauty of the little acts of love and Pandora’s new pieces.
Alongside the new collection and short film, the jewellery retailer conducted research into how our perspective on relationships and their importance had changed post-pandemic.
Pandora surveyed 11,000 people across the world and found that 70% of people believed relationships were more important since the pandemic and 66% were motivated to make more of an effort with the people they love.
‘Little Acts of Love’ was a part of Pandora’s mission to ‘empower people to voice the things they love and express who they are’ according to the brands former Global PR and Influencer Director Vita Clausen.
Stella Artois
Back in 2020, Stella Artois introduced a fresh look and new lifestyle approach ‘The Life Artois’ – an invitation to slow down and cherish the memorable moments with those that matter.
To showcase their new illustrative style, Stella Artois released ‘Kiss’ and ‘Valentine’s Day’ just in time for Valentine’s Day. The illustration style animations take inspiration from vintage travel posters, representing the good life and spirit often associated with old Europe.
In addition, Stella Artois created interactive walls in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. The unbranded, localised ‘love letters’ were put in place to bring people together and garner user-generated content (UGC).
After Valentine’s Day, Stella Artois branding was added transforming the celebration of love into a colourful out-of-home advertisement.
Stella Artois partnered with female-friendly dating app Bumble to sponsor a dinner in Los Angeles hosted by influencer Olivia Culpo. The ‘Stella Heartois Experience’ took place the day before Valentine’s and included tapas, flower arranging, and a branded challis personalisation station.
This stellar (excuse the pun) Valentine’s campaign was one we can’t forget and encouraged beer lovers to slow down and spend time with the ones we love.
We don’t blame Stella Artois for harnessing UGC to catch audience attention, it’s become a super popular and incredibly powerful tool for marketers in the last few years. In fact, 87% of businesses are using UGC in some form to share transparent content that their audience can relate to.
Ever wondered why UGC is on the rise? Do you want to know how to incorporate it into your strategy or how to create standout TikTok content?
Then we think you’ll be interested in our webinar with TikTok specialist and Content Creator, Lydia Baldwin. In this webinar, we’ll deep-dive all those questions and much more! You can watch this webinar, explore our range of courses, browse our library of templates, and access our incredible community by joining The Girls in Marketing Membership.
SKIMS
By now we know that we can count on SKIMS for iconic, high profile campaigns and this year’s Valentine’s campaign is no different.
Following a long list of celebrity collaborations, contemporary pop culture icon Lana Del Rey is the latest model for SKIMS.
SKIMS leveraged Lana’s vintage glamour and cinematic aesthetic to produce eye-catching imagery highlighting the latest collection.
The images feature Lana covered in hearts, pastel satin, dainty bows, and lace appealing to the overtly feminine style her fans adore!
At first glance, the campaign screams Valentine’s with pieces that self-proclaimed fan Lana found ‘pretty and dreamy’. And, as Lana has used and loved SKIMS for a long time, we know this is an authentic collaboration!
The Valentine’s campaign dropped days after Lana was announced as one of this year’s headline acts at Coachella and off the back of an incredible year for the star – in 2023 Lana released her tenth album, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, to mass critical and commercial success. For SKIMS, the intrigue and excitement circulating the star added to the campaign’s success.
Lana follows Simona Tabasco and Beatrice Grannò as the face of this year’s Valentine’s campaign.
Simona and Beatrice played best friends (and scammers) Lucia and Mia in the second season of hit show The White Lotus. Founder of SKIMS Kim Kardashian cast the pair in their first major fashion campaign for the brand after being captivated by them on screen.
The Valentine’s campaign attracted a lot of attention being branded ‘genius’ and ‘iconic marketing’ in the comment section of social media posts. And, we have to agree! The second season of The White Lotus lured over 4 million viewers across all platforms to watch the season finale.
Valentine’s is a time of year when we see some of the best creative marketing campaigns as brands think outside of the box in an effort to stand out.
What do you think of these Valentine’s campaigns? They definitely get a heart-eye emoji from us.
