PRs and hacks have been rubbing their hands together with glee for the past couple of weeks as that favourite annual journalistic event is now upon us. No, not awards season…St Valentine’s Day! Providing fluffy inspiration for campaign ideas and romantically themed page fillers, here is a quick round up of our favourite Valentine’s PR stories past and present…
Seasonal hook? Check. NPD on an already well-publicised trend? Check. Perfectly planned into the client’s retail calendar? Check. The Asda Valentine’s Day Slanket for two is right up there. Tweeted by Harry Wallop (PR gold) last week, click here for the vomit-inducingly sweet ‘Slanket-for-two’:
If that wasn’t quite cheesy enough, we spied another way for Valentine sweethearts to make sure they don’t ever need to spend a second apart – the ‘Smitten’ – a joint woolly glove for couples to keep warm while holding hands. With sales up almost 700% over the past week clearly neither the staggering price point of £24.99 nor the embarrassment of wearing one is putting people off, follow this link for more details.

Not all Valentine’s hinged PR ideas are as cringe-worthy as wittily named knitted goods, the winner of a well deserved Cannes Lions award, Australian bank NAB chose Valentine’s Day to deliver bad news to its partners in a controversial campaign that saw the financial giant ‘break up’ with other banks for the benefit of its customers. An extremely public divorce, one tactic included a message emblazoned on a sky banner across Sydney’s financial district. Take a look at the company here: https://breakup.nab.com.au/