It was around this time last year the words ‘new normal’ started to be bandied about. 12 months later – to keep tacking on the term ‘new’ – ahead of the word normal, just feels downright superfluous. The world has changed, consumption of media has altered and unsurprisingly it sent waves through the industry.
Gone are the days when you could just activate a Valentine’s campaign promoting a romantic getaway, a candle-lit meal, or even a declaration of love on the side of the bus. As with non-essential travel banned around the world, restaurants still under lock and key in some places and not to mention there’s fewer and fewer eyes on Out of Home due to the fact that lots of people are not allowed out. The normal tricks, and fail-safe strategies aren’t really going to cut the mustard anymore.
Although all traditional amour-filled plans are on ice for now, as a society we have never felt a greater need to feel connected emotionally. GlobalData’s latest Covid-19 Recovery Tracker reveals that’s been a 39% increase of consumers buying more meals as takeaways from restaurants than before the pandemic.
As UK consumers in 2021 are still unable to visit their favourite restaurants, many will buy the next best thing; Valentine’s meal kits to recreate at home. Everything from Pizza Pilgrim’s heart shaped pizzas, through to finish at home meals complete with candles for ambience from all of your favourite eateries. It’s not a case of B2B or B2C, what is having it’s moment right now is D2C.
However, competition for the stay at home spend is fierce. How can a luxury purchase ever compete with the convenience factor of Deliveroo or Postmates, or just rustling something up at home? How do you get your offering to stand out? Here, at Festival of Media we’re excited to see which agencies dare to throw the rule book out for their awareness day campaigns. Who are the brands that are really making a noise and disrupting the sector?
In our Best Campaign for a Celebration, Observance or Awareness day category, the jury will be looking to reward a campaign that makes use of a national or international holiday, notable celebration, observation, or awareness day to generate results for its brand.
Of course, Valentine’s Day is just one example of an awareness day. Over the coming week there’s Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day and Shrove Tuesday, all of which are just a few days apart. Plus, it’ll be time for Easter bonnets and chocolate eggs before we know it. It’s the bread and butter of the sector – that much is clear – but it’s always going to be a race to the top to see who can serve up a campaign that leaves their clients asking for seconds.
We know how busy things can get, what with fortune cookies to open, chocolates to scoff and pancakes to flip all whilst working from home. That said, another date you should be aware of next week is 18th February the deadline for entering our Global Awards. Whilst there may not be a themed snack, or activity to go with getting your entries in, if you wanted to pour a glass of bubbles to celebrate getting it in on time, we might just raise a glass or two in your honour to celebrate. As quite frankly, it would be rude not to…
