Scot McKee

So, exactly where have all the flowers gone? Whilst rarely at the bleeding edge of creative innovation, it's still unusual that any self respecting business would miss a flagrantly commercial opportunity to sell more widgets under the barely concealed guise of ‘topical Valentine campaign... blah, blah...'  No one in business seems to hesitate at sending a Christmas greeting. The less religious will even wantonly run seasonal sales promotions at Christmas, Easter, Pancake Day. I can see it now - ‘FREE Pancake with every Office Copier!' So where are all the flowers then?

It's Valentine's Day. Have I missed it, or has the entire B2B marketing community lost its sense of inappropriate opportunism in a sudden fit of self-conscious morality? I doubt it - but I haven't seen many companies getting in touch with their emotional romantic side.

Flowers, chocolates, heart-shaped teaser mailings, cuddly toys, condoms, bunny girls, balloons - they've all historically been enlisted by clients and agencies alike to squeeze every last buck into Q1 revenue targets. Actually, it's not that they've been used - it's the fact that the same brave little soldiers are used every year, year in, year out that I'm missing.

Valentine campaigns, as with almost every other form of communication, tread a thin line between repetitive banality and comfortable familiarity. Push the creative envelope and the rewards can be enormous. As can the consequences of failure. Trot out the same old underpants and the outcome will be safe, but uninspiring.

So are we too busy in the B2B marketing community to trouble ourselves with the triviality of romance? Are we so far up our own digestive systems that there isn't a budget, strategy or corporate message that we're prepared to wrap in the warm business glow of scented schmaltz in return for a smile and, who knows, maybe a shag? Have we run out of new ideas or afraid to use the old ideas?

I'm proud to announce that this year Birddog has built a new brand for a client that we've specifically saved until Valentine's Day to launch. We'll be using jolly lovely little heart shaped chocolate truffles, all nicely packed and sent with love to the client's prospective database - who knows, you may even receive one. If you do, I hope you'll remember this. Yep, chocolates, it's been done before. But the bit you have to remember is - it's Chocolate. On Valentine's Day. Schmuck. Chocolate on Valentine's Day is always, always, always going to be a winner. Happy Valentine's Day darlings, I love you.

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