Feb 15, 1999
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New Love Story Continued... MARKETING LOVE Tohfa hai yeh mera tumko ye ring From Matunga to Mahipalpur, the language of love evolves new idioms every year. But this year's Hinglish grist for love's mill doesn't flow from the dil. It's the product of fertile imaginations employed by those who smartly realise that love makes more than hearts sing; it makes cash registers ring. Generation MacLove's penchant for demonstrativeness has helped savvy marketers transform a medieval western tradition into an Indian marketplace of love. Four years ago record company Magnasound barely sold 5,000 copies of a special Valentine's Day album. Today it sells more than 25,000. "When we first started nobody had a clue about Valentine's Day. Now people have got into the Valentine culture," says a Magnasound official. "For luxury products it's become the third biggest selling season after Diwali and Christmas," says Varsha Dalal, executive director at the House of Baccarose, which distributes 32 global fragrances in the country. Sales are expected to jump around 30 per cent during the season of love, from February 5 to 21. It isn't just because of a proliferation of a bolder love. Valentine's Day has been adroitly manipulated by the moguls of the great Indian market place. This season St Valentine's legacy will not just be in the air -- it will be on the air, in music stores and in cinema houses across India, riding in on previously unseen levels of hype. Most marketing efforts centre on the main metros and smaller urban hinterlands like Kochi, Ahmedabad and Pune. In Chandigarh, Valentine's Day, unheard of until five years ago, is today a widely publicised and profitable whirl of rose deliveries, soft toys, cards and gimmicks. Last year celebrations spilled on to the streets, even inviting police action. A sample of this year's nationwide gimmickry: five-star parties, candlelit dinners, a special line of Levi's jeans, 25 per cent off at all outlets of designer Rocky S, heart-shaped pizzas at Pizza Hut. This year music stores are particularly flooded with hastily-launched albums. Some, like HMV's two-volume Love Blooms Again and Magnasound's Will You Be My Valentine? are compilations of earlier releases. Creativity is not important; just getting something out is. Valentine from Rajshri Music has just one song called, well, Valentine's Day -- in instrumental, dance mix and sing-along versions. Another is tenderly titled Yehi Hai Mohabbat, but check out its subtitle. "Go for it man!" it urges, cleverly reading the subtext of MacLove. Guided by the marketplace of love, few in India know -- or even care -- about the origins of Valentine's Day. Christian legends say it is the feast of St Valentine, patron saint of lovers, who was beheaded on February 14 under the orders of Roman Emperor Claudius II. The emperor believed that if his men remained single his army would be larger. Valentine was arrested and beheaded because he secretly married off people. Whatever. Love's merchants have cottoned on to the pulse of the generation, and their wallets. "With the spending power of the youth going up, everyone is jumping on the same bandwagon," says Sanjay Raina, manager of Columbia Tristar, one of three leading international movie production companies, hoping to cash in on Valentine's Day. The other two are Warner Brothers and Paramount Films. All three companies, in tie-ups with Pepsi and Coke, plan to release a romantic film two days before Valentine's Day, complete with national promotions, including hotel discounts, free tickets, free holidays and jewellery. The films: Six Days Seven Nights, Meet Joe Black and You've Got Mail. There's no escape if you want to stay home and channel surf. In addition to the overdose of romance from music channels, even the National Geographic channel will air three hours of love tales: that includes, not surprisingly, the secrets of underwater sex life, a display of lusty lions and tender cheetahs and the power of the mating game. The channel says these programmes are targeted at teasing the hearts of viewers. The radio will be full of special Valentine's Day broadcast and dedications. Obviously, advertisers are lining up their jingles. "Love breaks hearts," observes Raina, "But it sells too." St Valentine might not be too pleased, but apparently everyone else is. --Priya Ramani with Ramesh Vinayak |
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