Hearts, Roses and Cornish Pasties

It's Valentine's Day on Friday - not a day I give a lot of thought to really. My husband and I don't tend to do gifts or make a big deal of it. But although I don't celebrate it personally, it's hard to ignore all the hundreds of love-themed marketing messages.

As someone who used to work in a chocolate shop, I get it. It's an opportunity to boost sales. We had special heart-shaped gifts. We'd have special heart-covered wrapping paper. We'd ice soppy messages on things and wear red. It was a big deal.

And I have no issue with it. If people want to celebrate Valentine's Day or any other date, then that's up to them. And if businesses want to try to cash in on it, then fine - they aren't forcing anyone to buy.

But it can get a little weird.

Last week, I saw an ad for a Cornish Pasty company claiming: "Nothing says 'I Love You' like a Cornish pasty."

That's a bit of a stretch, isn't it?

I mean, I did once buy my husband a £5 Greggs gift voucher as a joke Valentine's gift, so maybe there is something in it, but I'm not convinced.

I don't think that company will sell more pasties because their ad was Valentine's themed. They might sell more because it made people fancy a Cornish pasty, but that has less to do with the theme or the copy and more to do with the picture of a pasty.

And if you can't find a genuine or authentic way to tie your products and services to a day in the calendar, is it worth doing? Or is it better to create non-themed marketing that makes more sense and might actually work?

Wouldn't a picture of a tasty pasty filling be more appealing than an ad trying to so obviously fit a product into a theme where it doesn't fit?

Nobody is going to see that ad and think: "That's it - that's the perfect gift to show my partner how much they mean to me."

Of course, it was probably done tongue in cheek which is fine if you have money to spend on "just for fun" advertising. But freelancers often don't have that luxury.

Themed marketing that works on any day of the year

Back in 2020, I wrote a (kind of) Valentine-themed article for LinkedIn: