In the shadow of any major event or phenomenon, counterculture is bound to develop. In the case of the age-old Valentine’s Day tradition, we’ve seen the advent of various V-Day alternatives. The most notable, perhaps, is Galentine’s Day - a day to focus on friendship, female bonding, and empowerment in the midst of a month hell-bent on celebrating romantic partnership. Initially popularised in Amy Poehler’s NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, the concept has begun to gain traction in the last five years, making its way comfortably into the mainstream.

Key Audiences

Those driving the conversation around Galentine’s day skew towards young, contemporary culture followers. Their interests focus on popular hip-hop and pop music artists, with social media content creators also among their key influencers, painting the picture of an audience united around an interest in, and following of, celebrity news. The data also points towards an audience that is aesthetically minded and concerned with appearance, bearing a strong affinity with fashion, beauty, and hair care as category interests as well as a loyalty to the visually focussed platforms of Snapchat and Instagram.

A key tribe involved in the friendship-focused holiday is the Trendy Moms. These millennial-skewed women are highly sociable, engaging with their favourite restaurants and bars, a likely focal point of Galentine's Day plans. While there are obvious nods to motherhood and childcare, this is a tribe that defies antiquated perceptions of parenthood, displaying a huge variety of interests including fashion, beauty, wine, design, and lifestyle blogging.

Galentine's or Valentine's?

The Galentine’s community is trend-led, with traditional calendar events seeming to be less important to those who engage with the phenomenon. For this reason, traditional marketing tactics may well be decreasing in efficacy for the group. In order to make the absolute most of seasonal marketing opportunities, brands should look to diversify marketing content and tailor communications and creative to reach the most engaged individuals with the correct messaging.

Despite the growing popularity of Galentine’s, it’s important to note that the traditional holiday is far from going out of style. Valentine’s day still brings in considerable engagement from the aforementioned groups with surprising involvement from alternative millennial males. The tribe is highly interested in fantasy and fiction entertainment such as Star Wars, Marvel and DC comic, as well as gaming brands and publications. The inclusion of this tribe further emphasises the expansive reach Valentine’s Day has despite its popular counter holiday.

Conclusion

With Galentine’s day largely being adopted by younger, mainstream audiences, brands will need to tailor strategies towards the newest trends in entertainment and social media to stay relevant to these audiences. But as we still see engagement with tradition, it’s important to remember the core message of both holidays – celebrating love.

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