Rather than falling back on "Be Mine" again this year, mineral water brand Evian wants consumers to avoid Valentine's Day clichés altogether with its #ILoveYouLike campaign, a multi-channel effort it says simultaneously pushes its so-called "Live Young" philosophy.
Until February 14, consumers who tweet @evianwater or @evian_uk using the hashtag #ILoveYouLike will receive a response with an alternative Valentine's message, such as, "I love you like Robin secretly loves Batman," or, "I love you like the '80s love a power ballad," along with encouragement to "share the love" with their followers.
Amy Hambridge, account director at social media agency We Are Social, says the campaign includes about 30 alternatives that are meant to "surprise and delight" and are "messages that you don't find at your usual card shop."
Fans will also be encouraged to share suggestions of how to complete the sentence "I love you like" on Facebook for a chance to win Valentine's Day prizes. Evian says the competition will run on a number of its local Facebook channels, including the U.K., France, and the U.S., with the best suggestions shared on the brand's global channels.
In addition, We Are Social says it has produced content that will be shared on Evian's global Facebook and Pinterest pages, as well as photographic content specifically for Instagram with the "I Love You Like" theme.
The campaign launched February 5.
According to Hambridge, We Are Social was approached by Evian in December to come up with a way to celebrate Valentine's Day, but not in the "traditional schmaltzy way."
That's why the agency came up with a twist on "obviously cliched things" by turning messages on their heads, she says.
In addition, in a statement, Laurence Foucher, global digital manager at Evian, said, "Evian's 'Live Young' values are all about encouraging our consumers to take a playful and fresh look at things, which this campaign reflects perfectly. People are often reluctant to get caught up in the usual Valentine's cliches, so we're hoping this campaign encourages them to have some fun with their loved ones instead."
According to Hambridge, the hashtag #ILoveYouLike had 187,000 impressions in the week before the campaign launched and 1.2 million estimated impressions in its first 48 hours as a result of about 200 Twitter messages.
On February 10, the brand will launch a competition in the U.K. in which consumers who use the hashtag will be entered to win Valentine's goodies from Evian-sponsored athlete Maria Sharapova's premium gummy candy line Sugarpova. Sharapova will also tweet her own #ILoveYouLikes and retweet some of Evian's tweets as well, Hambridge says.
@evianwater has 10,500 followers; @evian_uk has 6,500 followers.
Evian has 1.4 million Likes.