IT'S ABOUT MONEY, HONEY - V day, An other perspective!!

• BenQ has announced a Valentine Day offer on their mobile handset, E61
• Celebrate the spirit of love & win big this Valentine's Day with Airtel.
• Celebrate Valentine's day with exciting offers on eBay India.
• HDFC Bank offers a 2.5 gm personalized heart-shaped gold bar of 99 percent - V day special.
• KBC special celebrity show on V-day.
• All FMs promptly held the V-day buzz around.
• WorldSpace celebrates V day with a special offer - Buy a WorldSpace receiver, and get two speakers for free
  

Valentine Day market potential swelled to Rs. 1,200 cr, registering a growth of 20-25 percent year-on-year, according to estimates.

February 14th, 2007... Chennai was painted red. Should say EVEN Chennai was painted red. So was the whole world. Roses, cards, hearts and special offers. Was astonished on reading the newspapers on the V-day, as for sure easily some 20 odd ads were there that displayed offers on account to the V-day. All the aforesaid offers give a strong message that the V-day is sold everywhere as a marketing gimmick these days!!

This is not the first instance that this kind of a ploy was used by the marketers to trigger of the market potential. A set of Gold merchants floated a publicity stunt by introducing something called "Akshaya Thrithi" spreading a word of mouth that buying gold on that particular day would ultimately result in gold accumulation for the year... Not to forget the green saree maneuver that came around Southern Tamil Nadu (brothers need to gift a green saree to their sisters for the general well-being of the family).

Similarly, coming back to the Valentine's day, I personally feel that its not just those in love look forward to Valentine's day, but the stock market also celebrates the day with positive fervor. And for sure, we could not help but appreciate the brains behind the idea of turning St Valentine's Day into a commercial wingding. There has been a time during the late 90's when not much in the Indian sub-continent even paid the slightest heed to this now fabulous day. And these smart marketers have played a major role in advertising the V-day year on year.

Last to mention, I found this banner erected in the Mount Road (near Cenotaph Road) by HUTCH.. This advertisement board was erected at a place that could well be an attention-grabber, the hugeness of which could not be missed out by the passers-by. Innovation definitely at its best!!