USA: Valentine’s Day has become a two-week marketing affair

From a marketing standpoint, Valentine’s Day has become a two-week affair, with deals and offers leading up to the weekend, and even throughout the month. For most restaurants, it is a weekend of prix fixe menus. Chains are taking the same approach, but adding social media elements to promote their deals.

California Pizza Kitchen is offering a “Sweet Deal for 2,” with two entrées and a dessert for $32. On Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the chain is offering a “What We Do For Love” sweepstakes that invites followers to share photos showing the crazy things they do for love, with the hashtag #CPKLoveSweeps. The winner could receive free California Pizza Kitchen menu items for a year.

Starbucks is kicking off the holiday on Feb. 13, with the World’s Largest Starbucks Date. Since so many members of Match.com list “coffee and conversation” as one of their interests, the coffeehouse chain is inviting members to arrange their first dates that day using a new “meet at Starbucks” feature on the dating website.

Special menu pairings, such as a Caffe Verona coffee press for two and a Double Chocolate Chunk Brownie, will be available for $5. Customers are encouraged to share their experiences on social media with the hashtag #StarbucksDate.

“There’s no better time to celebrate meaningful moments of connection and encourage new ones than during Valentine’s Day,” said Sharon Rothstein, Starbucks’ global chief marketing officer. “For more than 40 years, Starbucks has been a place to connect over a great cup of coffee.”

TGI Fridays is holding a Twitter sweepstakes that asks followers to share stories of how they met at one of its restaurants, with the hashtag #MyFridaysValentine. Daily winners could receive a $50 gift card for a date at a TGI Fridays, and one grand prize winner will receive a weekend getaway for two to Paris.

Dairy Queen is looking to raise the romance level with less cliché gifts. Rather than silly flowers (yawn) or jewelry (please), DQ suggests a heart-shaped Red Velvet Cake and a one-of-a-kind red spoon, which comes in a velvet jewelry box to make it extra classy.

EU-Digest

Valentine's day, the big rip-off of the flower Industry

If you study hidden fees and price distortions for a living, Valentine's Day is your Super Bowl. Can you name another industry where the true price of an item is routinely more than double the advertised price? Yet that's precisely what you'll encounter this week, when you realize that Valentine's Day is Sunday and you'd better get your order in fast. 

In fact, really fast.  Before we get to the nitty-gritty of the free market mess that is Valentine’s flower shopping, let me tell you procrastinating lovers out there this important news: Because Valentine's falls at the end of weekend this year, price distortions are even worse than usual. To get a good deal, you're going to have to accept shipment on this Thursday , Feb. 11, a full three days early.  Most sites are applying weekend shipping rates to Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  So as we click through the thorny world of flower shopping online, know that you should really place your order immediately to avoid paying a serious procrastinator's premium.

Note EU-Digest: Or don't purchase those Valentine  flowers, which really only last for a few days anyway. Instead give that money to a worthy cause and tell your loved ones you did it in her or his name.

For more: Online flower prices still grow and grow... - The Red Tape Chronicles - msnbc.com

Valentine's day: Discover Love Through Art on Europeana

Lovers embracing. Romantic poems. Couples walking hand in hand. These are a few of the symbols associated with Valentine's Day, a festival of love celebrated for hundreds of years, and they can all be explored through the paintings, images, sounds and texts of Europe’s cultural heritage, available on Europeana.

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