Be Mine: A Brief History of Valentine's Day Marketing

When I was in grade school, Valentine's Day was one of my favorite holidays. There were cards. There was the possibility that your crush actually liked you back. And, there was the chocolate — so much chocolate.

Little did I know that the roots of this holiday bore little-to-no resemblance to my childhood experience of it.We were never taught that Valentine's Day actually originated with an arguably gruesomeancient festival, where there was no chocolate or exchange of cute, red-and-pink cards.

But love it or hate it, those are the types of things we associate with the holiday today. After all, there's a reason roughly114 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged each year— it's what's become expected of us.

So how the heck did we get from an ancient Roman festival to a holiday that compels many of us tospend no less than $147 on celebrating it? That story, it turns out, is thousands of years old — but we'll try to condense it.

How Valentine's Day Began and Evolved

Ancient Rome

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情人节的根源被一些消息来源引用了古罗马音乐节lupercalia, largely because it took place annually on February 15 — the day after what is today the observed date of Valentine's Day — and involved some very primitive forms of courtship and matchmaking. But it was also ancient Rome that saw the famous execution of a St. Valentine on February 14, around 278 A.D.根据传说, he wrote a letter on the night before his execution to his jailer's daughter, whom he had befriended, and signed it, "From Your Valentine."

在两个世纪后,教皇Gelasius下令that Lupercalia be replaced with the February 14 observation of St. Valentine's Day. That set the tone, some believe, for the day's forthcoming tradition of exchanging "love messages," perhaps in remembrance of St. Valentine's farewell letter.

罗马人也被认为是构建的想法Cupid— a god of love often depicted with arrows that, as the legend goes, inflict love upon those who are hit by them. The Roman version of Cupid was adapted from爱神, a god of passion and fertility in Greek mythology. It seems that no one is quite sure when cupid became associated with Valentine's Day, but the fact that both have origins in ancient Roman culture suggests that there may have been some very early overlap between the two.

莎士比亚（和乔uc）

When NPR's Arnie Seipel set out to explore the history of Valentine's Day, he found that itfirst became romanticized by classic authorslike William Shakespeare in the late 16th century, and Geoffrey Chaucer in the 1300s.

乔uc

Dartmouth English professor Peter Travis cites Chaucer's epic poem禽的议会, which was one of the first literary references to St. Valentine's Day, or "Seynt Valentynes day," as Chaucer spelled it. One such mention is made,Travis explains, alongside the line, "Now welcom somer, with thy sonne sonne, That hast this wintres weders over-shake." In other words, when we celebrate love in the coldest depths of winter — in February, for instance — it's so heartwarming that it makes summer feel less far away.

Shakespeare

Some literary historians credit Shakespeare for the permeation of love into popular culture with his composition of "Sonnet 18” - 据说是写的between 1593-1601— a.k.a., "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" It's unclear when or how this particular work became associated with Valentine's Day, but like Chaucer, Shakespeare compares love to the seasons.

"While summer days may fade and fall into" colder months, writes Shakespeare analystLee Jamieson, "his love is eternal."

当然，圣情人节被提及村庄—写在1599-1601之间— when the character Ophelia背诵一首歌关于一个年轻女士在假期的经历，其中包括“明天是圣人节”和“成为你的情人节”的歌词。

The 17th Century and Beyond

到1700年代，据说情人节从欧洲到美国，这与1607 - 1770年之间的北美殖民地建立一致。根据HISTORY.com, "for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes." That was more common in England, however, where the Industrial Revolution began earlier and eventually included the production of "幻想情人节非常昂贵。"

It's said that one American woman, Esther Howland, was so intrigued when she received her first English valentine greeting in 1847, that she became infatuated with the idea of manufacturing them in the U.S. She was an early entrepreneur, and instinctively believed that there could be an American market for these formal, English-style greetings. After procuring materials like high-quality paper and lace from her father, a stationer, she created what many credit as the earliest American Valentine's Day greeting cards.

Today, Howland is still honored with the nickname "美国情人的母亲，“许多人都以她的工作为开始multi-million-dollar industry。But it didn't happen overnight — let's take a look at how her work paved the way.

情人节营销的简短时间表

1714

瑞典的查尔斯二世开始与鲜花交流，通过为每种类型分配不同的信息。据称这一传统assigned love and romance to the red rose, setting the stage for this flower to be exchanged during the later, commercialized era of Valentine's Day. However, it remains unclear if a specific brand is responsible for first marketing flowers as part of Valentine's Day gift-giving.

1822

In England, where Valentine's Day had by now already been celebrated with the exchange of gifts and cards for many years, the Cadbury chocolate company sells thefirst heart-shaped box of chocolates。

1849年

In Massachusetts, Howland produces a dozen sample Valentine's Day cards and sends them off with her brother to distribute during a sales trip for their father's company —S.A. Howland＆Sons— hoping to earn $200. Instead, he returns有25倍的金额, indicating a much higher-than-expected demand.

Here's an example of a card Howland created around this time.

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1850年

The first print advertisement for Howland's cards appears in the伍斯特间谍。

1866年

当新英格兰糖果公司（NECCO）创始人奥利弗·蔡斯（Oliver Chase）的兄弟丹尼尔·蔡斯（Daniel Chase）使用蔬菜染料到bob全站appprint words onto confections。

1870年

Howland incorporates her booming card business as theNew England Valentine Company, operating out of her home via an assembly line that was largely comprised of her friends.

1879年

新英格兰情人公司将业务从霍兰德的家转移到马萨诸塞州伍bob全站app斯特的一家大街工厂。同年，该公司发布bob全站appValentine Verse Book, which contained 131 "verses" that people could cut out and paste inside of cards that came without a greeting — or those with a greeting that the buyer didn't like.

1880年至1881年

Howland sells the New England Valentine Company to the乔治·惠特尼公司bob全站app。

1888年

Whitney has acquired at least 10 competitors, including Berlin and Jones, which had become New York City's "最大的情人制造商十年后，该公司搬到伍斯特的大型总部bob全站app联合街。

1894年

The Hershey Chocolate Company is founded, bringing what was previously "a European luxury product" to the U.S.

1902

对话糖果变成了心形。

1906

American Greetingsis founded, eventually becoming one of Whitney's chief competitors.

1907

The Hershey Chocolate Company introduces its Hershey Kisses candy product. Interestingly enough, the product wasallegedly named Kissesbecause whenever a piece of chocolate was dropped on the conveyer belt at the Hershey factory, it sounded like a kiss.

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1910

That January, a massive fire destroys much of Whitney's headquarters. However, most of the Valentine's Day productshad already been shipped对于本赛季，对那个特定假期的影响很小。

同年，Hallmark is founded。同时，1910年也看到了Florists' Telegraph Delivery— today known as FTD — which pioneered the remote ordering and delivery of flowers, providing a way to send them to far-away loved ones.

1913

Hallmark生产它first Valentine's Day card。

1948

The De Beers diamond company launches its "钻石是永远的“竞选活动，传达了一个信息，即可以将赠送高端珠宝用作爱的表达。

1985

In the '80s companies like Hallmark began launching more Valentine's Day related commercials. In 1985, one commercial, which dubs Hallmark as "The Valentine's Store" shows off all of the cards and heart-shaped products you can buy for your loved one in their locations.

1986

As if Kisses weren't romantic enough based on their name, Hershey's enforced them as a Valentine's Day staple with one slight design tweak. The company began packaging Kisses candies in粉红色箔specifically for Valentine's Day.

2004

As marketers continued to embrace new media, we saw an influx of high-quality and insanely high-budgeted commercials mark the holiday from the '80s until now. One of the most iconic and beautifully shot commercials was a mini-romance drama, called "Le Film," promoting Chanel No. 5 perfume.

In the ad, a man falls in love and runs away with a starlet, played by Nicole Kidman. In the end, she returns back to her life of fame. As she walks down the red carpet, he notes all the things he'll remember about her, including the smell of her Chanel No. 5 perfume.

2005

情人节开始数字化。2005年2月14日，YouTube（起源于在线约会网站）首次亮相。联合创始人史蒂夫·陈（Steve Chen）仍然认为其发明是“在情人节那天，三个人无关。"

2013

骑行共享公司Uber推出”bob全站appRomance On Demand”,允许用户在情人节送花Day via the app. This initiative would continue to progress, with on-demandskywriting第二年可用。

2016

NetBase, a social media analytics platform, releases a Valentine's Day情感分析, measuring how people engage with and discuss the holiday on social media. In total, it measured nine million mentions of Valentine's Day, with the vast majority of them mentioning a specific brand — Netflix. The top hashtag was #happyvalentinesday.

2017

In the earlier years of the Google Doodle, Google used Valentine's Day to spread awareness of a rare species. In 2017, a series of Google Doodles shown in the days leading up to Valentine's Day highlighted the stories of pangolins, the only mammal species with scales, as they give each other Valentine's Day gifts or serenade their mates. Here's one example:

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虽然在这一点上，Google不需要用涂鸦来营销自己，但这显示了一个早期的示例，该品牌利用其平台在假期中创造性地推销另一个原因。

2018 to Present Day

最近几年，Valentine's Day marketing campaignshave gone completely digital, with a particularly strong presence on social media. With these new opportunities, smaller companies that don't have Hallmark's budget can easily spread awareness of their own brands during the holiday. Here's one example of an Instagram post which highlighted a fine Italian restaurant ahead of Valentine's Day:

While these real dog's mimicking Lady and the Tramp grabbed attention, especially from the animal lovers on Instagram, this post's caption encourages audiences to interact with the brand.

What Marketers Can Learn from Valentine's Day Marketing

Like so many other holidays, Valentine's Day has experienced a transition into pop culture that has shaped the way it's perceived, discussed, and celebrated. Sure, it's often accused of being nothing more than a money-making marketing holiday. But next time you hear someone label Valentine's Day as a "Hallmark holiday," you'll have a wealth of historical information to respond with.

从我们的心到你的心，情人节快乐。我们将密切关注它的持续发展。

编者注：此博客文章最初于2017年2月发表，并已更新以进行全面和新鲜感。