The way we celebrate

As soon as February starts, the whole world goes Red. Red balloons all over the restaurants, stores and malls. Red dresses on the display dummies, red chocolates, red roses , red teddies and red wine.

At around my early teens, when I first fell in love with a boy, I  started fantasizing romantic ideas and moments. I started day dreaming about how falling in love would feel like and i clearly remember that a huge part of my expectations was that i would get proposed to; specifically on valentines day  with a bunch of red roses, chocolates , teddies and I would be wearing an elegant red dress like those displayed in the stores. I was so fixated on these ideas of romance that I wanted to grow up quickly so that I could  fit into these ideas of red and have the perfect romantic valentines day.

But, as it turns out, falling in love is not  all fun and gifts, its crappy and its definitely not  all these varieties of red. As it turns out, this is not what valentines day is about either. These were mere marketing tactics. How brands had positioned their products as romantic offerings and marketed their product as a ritual in people's lives. As I'd like to call it now, valentines day is all about Red Marketing.

I'm sharing this experience to say that marketing has hugely impacted the way we think, feel, understand and live with. Even now, when I've been a marketing student and worked as a marketer for several brands, I am still invigorated by the idea of  the Red Marketing. I know these rituals aren't real, but they exhibit "feel good" appeals to the users and makes us want to be a part of it.

The same tactic has been used by jewelry brands as well. Almost all of the jewelry ads are about making the purchaser feel good about themselves as well as to the counterparts that they gift it to.

Moreover, Festivals are a great deal for marketers, be it Dashain, Christmas or Valentines day. Marketers have leveraged people's emotions and beliefs into commercializing festivities and associated particular products to certain festivities. Such as Jewelers leveraging people's belief of buying precious metals during Dhanteras and providing discount offers , Leather stores bundling belt and wallet as a gift set during Valentine's day, Father's day and Raksha Bandhan. It is also when the size of newspapers grow ten folds and the popular ones even come up with a "Dashain Special" bonus newspaper that's bigger than the actual newspaper itself. So, marketers are not only advertising their product to the users, but are teaching customers the ways and occasions in which the products can be used, 

So, as it turns out, Marketing is not just about the right content or emotions. People's emotions, rituals and timing of marketing efforts also play a huge role in the success of any promotional efforts.