Celebrating Valentine’s Day During COVID-19

As we noted last year, Valentine’s Day is both a romantic and economic occasion. So what should we expect for February 14, 2021? Let us look at celebrating Valentine’s Day during COVID-19.

And as always: This post is dedicated to my Linda, the LOML (love of my life).

Be Happy Celebrating Valentine’s Day During COVID-19

We all have something/someone to be thankful for this year. I sure do. Yesterday, was the sixth anniversary of my Whipple surgery for pancreatic cancer. Although the 5-year survival rate for PC is just 10%, yet, here I am. Thus, Valentine’s Day is a big occasion for my family and me. Even this year, we are celebrating my Whippleversary and Valentine’s Day tonight. Fully masked and socially distant.

From a marketing perspective, what’s happening in 2021? For some answers, we turn to Kevin Brown, reporting for Advertising Age:

Traditional Valentine’s Day bounty is taking a hit this year. How that will affect romance in America is anybody’s guess. But responses to a recent survey by research company Numerator indicate a lot of the holiday’s treasured gifts and activities are going to be replaced by home-cooked meals and takeout.

Only 31% of respondents said they planned to buy flowers as gifts, down 15 points from those who bought them in 2020, according to the survey. The same holds true for other holiday-related categories: Clothes, accessories, jewelry, alcohol, and candy were all down nearly 10 points. (See charts below.) In 2020, right before the pandemic began to lock down the U.S., more than 84% of respondents said they’d given candy, the most-gifted category. This year, candy-giving will drop nearly 10 points, with 75% of respondents saying they will be buying sweets. Marketers are employing new strategies, with good results. [Read the full article to see how.]