The Valentine Segment And Its Relevance

The valentine segment is seen as one of the market groupings that exhibit similar behavior to demonstrate love to each other as exemplified by saint valentine. The observance of this day evokes a universal sense of socio cultural and commercial underpinnings. The attractiveness of this segment is not in doubt because of its world size, accessibility, purchasing power, distinctiveness and most importantly its potential management. According to the greetings card association, a figure of one billion gift are sent in the form of greeting cards each year , making valentine day the second largest card sending holiday.

A retrospective into valentine reveals that this day is set aside as lovers festival and celebrated on every 14^th February across the world and characterized with an expression of love through the exchange of flowers, confectionery, and sending greeting cards. The idea to buy, actually purchase or use these products is intensified because this occasion comes once a year with memories of all times. In other geographic units, saint valentine keys are given to lovers as romantic symbols and invitation to unlock the givers heart. Children with epilepsy as called saint valentine malady is ward off. There is also the common belief in England and France that 14^th of February appears to be the beginning of the mating period for birds compelling the day to be aligned to the occasion.

The origin of valentines is unique to beloved pope Valentine for his goodness and pity when he died after 40 days during his reign from August to September 827. History had it that there were different versions of the same original account which connect the celebration to the western Christian liturgical feast in honor of one or more early saints named valentinus or Valentine. These saints had several martyrdom stories which made them worthy of celebration. The application of the valentine card became the only means to express ones emotions as direct expression was discouraged as in the case of the persona in this celebration. The hagiographical account that Saint Valentine applied in performing wedding for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and ministering to Christians who were persecuted under Roman Empire marked Saint Valentine as distinctive. Eventually, saint valentine was imprisoned and during this imprisonment according to the legend, Saint Valentine healed the daughter of the jailer, Asterius and fell in love with the young girl during his confinement. Before he could be executed, he wrote her letter and signed ‘your valentine “as farewell.

Although, the reality behind Saint Valentine appears murky, he is an embodiment of sympathy, heroine, and romance. These knowledge, attitude or responses to situations provide a unique opportunity for tailored programs to meet needs that arouse the emotions of people to the reality. In 1840, an American, Esther A Howland known as the mother of valentine began selling the first mass produced valentine card to meet these needs with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures. The adoption of the chocolate in Ghana in this line provides a tailored means of targeting this peculiar segment. The celebration therefore brings a lot of commercial value to organizations.

Valentine market does not only focus on the Eros lovers but also provide the impetus to strengthen the Christian love as reviewed in 1 Corinthians 13, vrs 4 to 7 that love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrong, love does not delight in evil but rejoice with the truth. These attributes of love has varied implications for individuals to audit themselves knowing where they are if it comes to the extent to which love leads ones relationship, the ideal state they would really love to be, identify what has actually strengthened their love affairs, reduce the deficiency with strategies to live a life that allow them love their neighbor as themselves making valentine an integral aspect of our lives.

The diverse attributes of love recognizes that people will experience love in different form because they differ in their emotional needs, perceptions and attitude. It will therefore take an extra effort to adapt offers more closely to match the needs of the valentine market. It is important because human situations are not the same. As put by Joseph Fletcher in his theory of situationalism, he rejects the legalistic labeling of a behavior. According to him, an act is morally good if it produces the greatest Christian love or agape love. This consequential theory defined agape love as unconditional loving concern for ones neighbor, characterized by ones love for God. Love’s decisions are determined by particular situations and the end justifies the means. Surely, this is the only way the society can achieve its peace because it is the byproduct of love in building all spheres of lives.

The celebration therefore demands we position our goods and services very well in that consumers will choose that which will give them the greatest value among competing services designed for this occasion. You can only win by understanding them better if you have the marketing pulse, understand their buying process better than competitors. It is one thing selling flowers, cards and chocolate but another thing delivering value which is superior. It is also important we consider our product mix, people and the image you consistently want put out there. More importantly, the customers will still want to make you stand out during this special occasion and above all we make the effort to communicate and deliver the chosen position. This is the only way we can tailor our needs to valentine, identify an attractive market for the future, take advantage of the opportunities and threat of the valentine segment and remain different from the competition.

Having dissected the subject, it is understandable organizations are initiating special ad for the occasion in order to influence attitude and behavior of lovers through marketers initiated techniques. The gap however remains that the psychology of these segment per our geography will need clarity on who are lovers, grouping them on the basis of having similar characteristics so as to get the most attractive and a strategy to better meet their needs for the second most populous card sending celebration which is common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or written note just to make the world a better place through the love therapy.

‘Your valentine’
ADABUNU BRIGHT