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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2023 is set to be the year that Valentine’s Day finally steps out of the light of the pandemic. All around the world, people are gearing up to spend time with their loved ones, and now have the ability to be more flexible due to restrictions being lifted. This year, UK spend for Valentine’s Day was £909 million, up 2% from 2021 – a trend that bodes well for the event in 2023.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
While gifts such as chocolates and flowers are still high on the agenda for people looking to celebrate Valentine’s Day, there has been a trend shift in what people are looking to buy around this time of year. Due to rising consumer prices and the increased cost of living, for example, consumers are expected to spend less on bigger ticket items. Instead, purchases of personalised gifts, or products that offer value, including second-hand goods, look set to increase.
These ideas of personalisation and added value are what Asda tapped into with its Valentine’s Day meal deal for £15 in 2022. The deal included a range of Extra Special products for a luxury date night at home, while the retailer took the deal a step further and added a free Sky Movies voucher for couples. Such collaboration is important for deals to stand out in what will become an increasingly competitive market for out-of-home replacement dine in occasions.
ADVERTISING RESPONSE
With consumer interest increasing on the previous year, we anticipate that advertisers will take advantage of digital opportunities to reach an engaged audience, to increase awareness and drive sales.
One brand that took advantage of advertising during Valentine’s Day was Ted Baker, who created a game called ‘Hook Your Solemate’ - a tongue-in-cheek psychedelic fishing game where users fish for the ultimate prize of a £1,000 shopping spree. The campaign was a huge success with 10,000 hits in 24 hours, 49,900 visits in total with a huge 36% in returning visitors. This campaign was also nominated for three awards.
THE CANOPY OPPORTUNITIES
Within Canopy’s digital portfolio, 8.8M people are planning on purchasing a gift for their significant other for Valentine’s Day. Additionally, 15.5M of people who read content through Canopy’s partners like to give gifts that have the wow factor.
We have a whole host of opportunities within our portfolio. Contextually, brands are able to target a relevant audience through a variety of environments. From display formats across large publications such as the Independent, to sponsored reads on one of The Guardian’s popular podcasts, Canopy’s portfolio has all the opportunities for a highly successful campaign.
Due to our partners having highly sophisticated data systems, we can also target audiences using 1st party data. DMP audience targeting will enable brands to target a specific audience as they travel across our sites. An example of our DMP capabilities would be to target specific people who are looking to gift this Valentine’s Day. The Guardian currently have over 2m people who are reading content based around Valentine’s Day, highlighting the scale that can be achieved.
