Bad Romance is Getting Better: What 2026 Valentine’s Day Campaigns Did Right
Bad Romance is Getting Better: What 2026 Valentine's Day Campaigns Did Right
By Tolu Dapo-Adeyemo
Illustration by Brianna Hong
It’s February, and nobody’s surprised at what that means: stores are suddenly rife with red roses, Instagram on the 14th is a minefield for anyone who’s single, and brands are launching their annual Valentine’s Day campaigns. While most people might think they’ve seen it all as far as Valentine’s Day marketing ideas go, there were some brands that breathed new life into 2026’s season of love.
It’s important to mention that this kind of thing matters because Valentine’s Day, despite being icky to some, is still a gold mine for consumer insights. Everyone’s looking at their phones (unless they’re actively avoiding it—self-care looks like a lot of different things!), emotions are running high for weeks on end, and people are usually buying things for their partners/valentines/friends, et cetera. The key is to take advantage of this critical juncture in a way that grabs attention and keeps it. That comes through identifying an insight other brands haven’t—and flipping the holiday on its head. Give consumers a reason to break their habits. The smartest campaigns use Valentine’s Day to address a real tension, challenge clichés, or simply invoke action—they make people move. Here are a few campaigns that moved people in 2026.
1. Hershey’s solving cultural tension with tasteful humor
Different cultures have different standards of what’s “acceptable” as far as PDA. It’s safe to say that certain stuff doesn’t fly in India the way it does here in the States. Hershey’s knew this and found a brilliant workaround: circumventing the awkwardness of PDA with having Hershey’s Kisses act as a stand-in for actual kisses. Using the idea “Giving kisses is hard, but there’s always Hershey’s Kisses” highlighted a cultural pain point within Valentine’s Day and made it way more fun to engage with locally. Complete with fun digital video ads, OOH, and even activations like a “Kisses Booth,” Hershey’s did a 360-degree campaign that did exactly what it needed to: move people.
2. KitKat turning packaging into an icebreaker
It’s not a secret that some people struggle with making their feelings known during this time—or all of the time, for that matter. KitKat saw an opportunity in this and decided to reposition itself as not just a personal snack but rather a social connector. Their tagline, “Skip the silence and break the ice” encapsulates this perfectly, as they made limited-edition packaging with cute messages on them to make it a little easier for some people to, well, break the ice. This is a perfect example of an activation solving a problem in a simple, accessible, and fun way.
3. Maruchan asks consumers to send each other something spicy
Maruchan took an arguably riskier approach to Valentine’s Day, but it definitely paid off. They released a new line of noodles, humorously named Saucy Noods—and had an even funnier way of marketing it. On Bumble, users swiped right on Saucy Noods and received a link to send actual noodles to someone they had their eye on. On Snapchat, Maruchan sent late-night sponsored DMs encouraging users to send Saucy Noods to their longest streaks. TikTok Shop even offered free shipping; Maruchan found different ways to make their brothless, stir-fry-style line of noodles absolutely undeniable. In addition to the eye-catching marketing, they morphed an old Valentine’s trope into something fresh, funky, and a little bit random—all things that thrive on today’s Internet.
Valentine’s Day can be trite, but it certainly doesn’t have to be. Finding and utilizing consumer insights for a campaign can be the difference between a run-of-the-mill marketing strategy and a cultural phenomenon that will be talked about long after it’s ended. Reimagining what might have meaning to people is both profitable and entertaining—sometimes, the only thing stronger than love is a really good laugh.
