Anyway, since today is the official Day of Love, I guess it’s only appropriate that I talk about love. A lot of people, of course, associate Valentine’s Day as a day for romantic lovers. Hey, as far as I know, there’s nothing in the Valentine rulebook that says that only hopeless romantics get to have fun today. Valentine’s should not be limited to dinner-concert daters, misty-eyed lovers driving down those nice little loveshacks in Pasig, or to hand-holding couples in Luneta. As corny as it sounds, love is for everyone.
Even for business people.
In fact, I think Valentine’s is one big Business Day. Personally, I feel that Valentine’s Day should be renamed to "Value-time’s Day." Love, contrary to popular belief, is not just an emotional thing. Or a feeling of longing or desire. Love is big bucks, man!
Just check out all the flower shops. I bet money is flowing out there. You buy a dozen flowers today (or yesterday) and I bet a bouquet will cost you an arm and a leg (and maybe an additional finger or two). Thing is, with flowers, you can’t really buy in advance. You have to buy them right before Valentine’s or on the day itself. So, flower shops can really jack up their prices during this time. It’s the law of supply and demand at work, you see? So, whoever said love is free hasn’t been to a flower shop on Valentine’s Day.
Then, try stopping by the jewelry stores. Now here’s another establishment that hears a lot of cash register "blings-blings" by selling a ton of "bling-blings." In these establishments, the phrase "love sets you free" doesn’t apply. Here, love is either cash or charge. You want to express your love? You better get your checkbook ready. And your life savings.
OK, maybe I am exaggerating a bit. But you must admit, there’s a lot of truth in what I’m saying. Love, apart from being a nice fuzzy feeling, is big business. In fact, a lot of establishments hinge their business on love. And hey, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. As long as people are spending, that’s good news for business. So if love is what impels people to buy, that’s great.
In fact, love is such a powerful sales motivator that it has become a very effective advertising platform too. We all know the saying "love makes the world go round." Well, on a business level, it has the same effect – it can make the wheel of fortune go ‘round and ‘round for a lot of companies. We love "love." We’re the only country in the world that has over 100 loveteams in showbiz. So yes, contrary to popular belief, we are actually a very loving nation. And this is confirmed not only in showbiz, but also in the TV commercials we see on air.
I am sure by this time, you’ve seen the eye-catching Smart commercial where all the celebrity endorsers of Smart are singing one of my all-time favorite songs, All You Need is Love. I think it’s a very catchy commercial. How could you possibly miss it? With all the big names there, it’s bound to catch your attention. And it was very inspiring too. Personally, I really felt the "love" in the air, especially the love for the brand.
Just recently, I met up with Noel Lorenzana, head of marketing of Unilever and we talked about their current commercial campaign which had the classic Burt Bacharach song, What the World Needs Now (Is Love Sweet Love), as the musical background. Man, I really love that song. And the commercial really captured a "love" moment. This nice warm feeling that we all get whenever we get to catch that commercial will eventually translate to money in the bank for Unilever. It was a wonderfully-made commercial indeed. Great piece of work. And hey, it’s all about love!
Now some people might say that we have trivialized love, or love has become nothing but a commodity, that it has become too commercialized. And to a certain extent, this is true. We say, "I love this game!" or "Love your hair! Where’d you have it cut?" or "Love that dress!" And love could mean casual sex – as in, "Let’s make love." Obviously, the word "love" in that phrase doesn’t refer to holding hands or hugging. In fact, it’s weird. When you say, "I love you" to a girl, it’s OK. But when you say, "Let’s make love," you get slapped on the face. What a world of difference, huh?
We do use the word nowadays rather loosely. These days, there are a lot of abusers of love. But I have no problem with companies who use love to promote their business. I’d rather have companies spend their energies and their resources in promoting love rather than hatred, poor taste, prejudice and evil.
When we have something at our disposal (e.g. money, time, resources), there are four things we can do with it: 1) use it for something good; 2) use it for something bad; 3) use it for something that’s neither good nor bad; and 4) not use it all. Let’s use an advertising budget, for example. If a company has an advertising budget, it can either 1) use it to promote something positive and good while promoting its product; 2) use it to bash or destroy the competition in order to gain over them; 3) use it to merely promote the product, without giving any positive or negative message; or 4) or not use it at all. I admire companies who choose the first. Why? Because with their resources, they had four choices and they chose to use their resources to communicate something good. They could have just promoted their product, but they decided to promote something positive and good. They could have used their resources to hit on the features of the competing brand. Or they could have decided to not use their budget in order to save. Despite these many choices, they chose the first. And that, to me, is admirable.
That’s why I tip my hat to Smart and Close-Up for their "love" commercials – and for all companies who use love in their campaigns. Right now, there’s simply too much hatred, prejudice and evil in the world. So anytime advertising money is spent to promote love, I have no complaints. I will not try to judge. I’d rather have love on my TV set than any other message. If there’s something worth being reminded of, it’s love.
After all, when all is said and done, Love is all that matters, right?
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!