Galentine’s Day is Brilliant Marketing

Someone recently informed me that Galentine’s Day wasn’t created around a marketing table but in an episode of Parks and Recreation. Well, marketers have quite a debt to pay to Leslie Knope.

Lots of holidays are Hallmark holidays, and Valentine's Day is a key one. Chocolate. Cards. Flowers. Teddy Bears. Alcohol. Dinners. The list goes on….But historically, you had to have a Valentine to buy something.

Yes of course you can buy Valentines for family and classmates, but traditional marketing was to anyone with a sweetheart.

What about, to quote Beyonce: All the single ladies.

Galentine’s Day is an example of coming up with a catchy idea that captures an entire market that previously wouldn’t have purchased something on a given holiday now being all in.

It’s a concept that takes an entire market of single women and encourages them buy cards, flowers, candy, teddy dinners for and with their friends.

And now that a top trending lyric on social media is “I can buy myself flowers!” Florists should absolutely add bouquets for oneself to the roster this year.

These are ways to sell all of that Valentine's Day product beyond the original target audience (those with a significant other for a Valentine) and still make people feel warm and fuzzy and loved and happy and enough.

It’s brilliant marketing, even if it originated in an episode of Parks & Rec.