Always ready to join in the festive spirit, large mobile phone companies see a perfect chance to increase the already huge SMS market.
The first shot in the marketing war was fired by Optus, who sent out an SMS on the 6th February saying, -This Valentines Day flirt for free with your Optus mobile by sending up to 100 free SMS messages from 7am-10am Eastern Daylight Savings Time."
Paul Kitchin, director for Mobile Marketing Optus, explained this by saying -We've decided to give the love lorn a chance to start the day on the right foot for free."
Vodafone have approached it from a different angle, promising to donate 2 cents from every SMS message sent on their network to the Heart Foundation. -The money raised will be in direct proportion to the amount of SMS sent on Valentine's Day, so we encourage our customers to send heaps of SMS. It's a terrific way to get the community involved in helping the Heart Foundation to fight against heart disease," said Grahame Maher, managing director of Vodafone.
With an expected two million messages to be sent in the name of cupid, Vodafone is hoping to raise AU$40,000 for the Heart Foundation.
Telstra are relying on people's desire for fun, planning a SMS game which will start on the 14th and is based on Valentines Day. We are assured that details will be released before Valentines Day, so keep checking its Web site.
Big Web vendors have also jumped on the bandwagon, seeing the chance to promote aspects of their sites that users may not be as familiar with as the companies would like.
OzEmail have used the opportunity to encourage subscribers to try its OzEpay system, which they tout as a safe way to shop online. It offers a chance to win prizes every time the user purchases goods through OzEpay, and advertised this through links on their homepage and in e-mail responses to enquiries.
NineMSN is also plugging its shopping channel, with tips for Valentines Day treats on its Web page, and a competition where you have to find four of Cupids arrows, which are stuck in hearts hidden in NineMSN Shopping.
AOL claims its Instant Messaging will be -more fun and flirtatious than ever" with -Hellos" and -Kisses", which are animated messages that include 'Smack', a virtual kiss. Whilst for those exhibitionists out there, ICQ is offering users the chance to have their marriage proposal prominently displayed on ICQ.com on Valentines Day, to a potential audience of 120 million users.
For more traditional sweethearts, roses are the only way to go. Rosesonly.com have separated its Web site into -Valentine's Day" and -Not Valentine's Day". A dozen boxed roses will set you back AU$129.00 on Valentine's Day, but that will get you three dozen roses any other day. If you want to really impress, five dozen roses will cost you $399.00 on Valentine's Day. Rosesonly cite huge demand as the reason for the price changes. Flowerfactory.com.au will charge AU$100 for a dozen long-stemmed red roses, but delivery is restricted to Sydney.
E-cards are a very common way for people to communicate these days, and there are a few sites specially suited to this holiday. Kissogram.com.au allows people to send a variety of kissograms, dragograms, shakograms and lickograms, guaranteed to get your Valentine trembling in the downstairs department. Alternatively, Virtualkiss.com provides a version of the e-valentine that is sweeter, more innocent, in fact bordering on the saccharine.
If it's old-fashioned class you're looking for, the State Library of Victoria provides an e-valentine service, while those of a darker nature might prefer Cthulhu Valentine Cards, which are available from cyberdungeon.
Of course, to some people, Valentines Day is less about sweet love and more about unbridled passion. Naturally, these tastes can be catered for on the web, with Adultshop.com.au and yummylingerie.com both offering suggestions for -his" and -her" Valentines presents. Couples can shop together in the -couples" section of Adultshop, or the cash-conscious can look under the -by price" section. And those lonely people with no Valentine this Thursday can always peruse the lingerie section, where the wares are modelled by, well, models.
