Valentine's Day: A Match Made in Marketing

Valentine's Day 2026 is predicted to become the biggest it's ever been – we're set to spend more than ever (£2.3 billion in fact), and not just on our partners, but our friends, ourselves, and even our pets. It's big business.. And it's not just measured by how we spend. Searches for date ideas, unusual gifts, and Valentine's outfits have all skyrocketed.

Does that mean love is in the air? Or that we’ve finally managed to commodify every relationship? My trend prediction for 2027: Valentine's gifts for the very postal workers that serve us our yearly love letters and letterbox bouquets.

Take the rise of 'Galentine's Day’. The charming portmanteau was actually coined in 2010 by the fictional character Leslie Knope, a beacon of unconditional optimism in the series Parks and Recreation. Despite existing in a fictional world 16 years ago, searches for Galentine's Day more than doubled by 2023. Its proliferation into modern culture reflects a broader cultural trend where women (regardless of relationship status) are prioritising platonic friendships alongside romantic ones.

Unsurprisingly, it has followed similar patterns of the OG Valentine’s day, with searches now including, 'what to bring to a Galentine's party?', and 'Galentine's Day Ideas'. Major retail brands like Boots, M&S and Oliver Bonas have embraced the trend with dedicated gifting ranges and themed campaigns. Moonpig offer Galantine's Day card options, and Malibu held a 3-for-2 Mean Girls cinema ticket partnership.

Galentine's Day started as a fictional (and crucially, non-commercial) celebration, coming to life through fan adoption, which eventually became a bonafide merchandisable holiday. The cynic in me would say the Valentine's industrial complex now means we're now being sold the original holiday AND the opt-out. But it's nothing new.

The masterclass marketing of De Beers in post-war America is one of advertising's great case studies. They weren't inspired by a fictional holiday to generate commercial opportunity. They created an entire social expectation into existence in order to be the 24-carat solution.

In 1947, only 10% of US brides received diamond engagement rings. Because of De Beers' "A Diamond is Forever", by 1990, it was 80%. With the '2 months' salary rule' firmly established. Despite planners and agency people like me trotting that fact out every now and again, the vast majority of people remain blissfully unaware of diamond engagement rings being anything more than a long-standing romantic tradition.

Another brand that's shaped modern culture is Spotify. They've hosted their own (still viral) year-in-review ‘Spotify Wrapped’ campaign since 2016, banking on its shareable format and insight-laden tantalisation. What's more interesting than the slew of copycats it inspired – from Apple Music to Duolingo – is how we've internalised brand language.

To bring it back to romance… People are now choosing to frame their intimate romantic lives using corporate data visualisation formatting and language. 'Dating Wrapped’ (first captured in 2022) is a TikTok/Reels-ready format that turns the modern dating lives of others into playful entertainment. And it's only a matter of time before it becomes a clever sponcon.

This captures the way brands, culture and consumers are often so tightly intertwined, and how influence flows in multiple directions. Brands create traditions (De Beers). Media moments become commercial opportunities (Galentine's Day). But we’re so fluent in brand language that we can take corporate formats like ‘Wrapped’ and turn them into ‘Dating Wrapped’ – using the language of data visualisation to find humour in modern romance's absurdity. People are not just passive consumers, but participants in a much more dynamic two-way relationship. How romantic!

Image credit: NBC