Can't buy me love?

Clearly, the Beatles would be out of sync today when honey is all about money.

The Sena might shout itself hoarse but you can't escape the fact that love is in the air, with a lot of marketing help from companies piggybacking on the surge of sales that Valentine's Day brings in its wake.

Flowers will cost you an astronomical packet, but these days, from special meals and holiday packages to washing machines and lingerie, everything is riding on the little red heart that's acting like adrenaline for the suits who've found in it the perfect marketing opportunity.

No wonder newspaper ads and FM broadcasts are filled with every cupid cliche as marketing efforts zero in on the second-largest occasion in India (next only to Diwali) when sales across all categories surge.

For a festival that was "introduced" to India by cards and gift chain shop Archies as recently as 1988, its hold on popular imagination has grown humungously.

Footfalls in the larger Archies stores (462 at last count) can increase to 4,000 on V Day, and according to executive director Pramod Arora, the occasion contributes approximately 6 per cent of the total revenue of Archies (with 75 per cent of the sales taking place in the three days preceding February 14).

It's impossible, analysts tell you, to calculate either advertising spends, or revenues generated from Valentine's Day promotions, given the vast range of products and services offered up.

But it's big business for the Rs 40-crore branded florist company Ferns 'n' Petals (with 46 outlets across the country) which, according to its vice president, Pawan Gadia, registers a record growth of 1,000-1,200 per cent. That is to say, if an outlet earns Rs 3,000 a day, it goes up to Rs 33,000 on Valentine's.

"While incremental sales on account of the festival amounts to 5-10 per cent, there's been at least a 25 per cent growth in Valentine's business as compared to last year," says Gadia.

Companies such as Archies and Ferns 'n' Petals aren't the only ones that do special promotions. At the Frank Provost day spa in Mumbai, Lovina Gidwani Jha, business development manager, is excited about the response to its special Valentine's Day couple packages.

"I've been answering between 5-10 calls a day and we are booked completely for the 14th," says Jha, who sees the overflow from gift vouchers running through the whole week.

For companies that deal in premium silverware, nothing can beat Diwali, but V Day can't be discounted either. Frazer And Haws, for instance, sees a tenth of its sales coming from the buzz around February 14, contributing up to 15-20 per cent of its sales.

"Most things for Valentine's Day are so feminine," says Archana Singh, exceutive director, "that we decided to introduce something for the man" "" specifically, a cricket ball, and a piece of rock, both cast in silver.

And for coffee shops and confectioneries, Valentine's is now at least the size of Christmas. Sandeep Madan, GM, marketing, Nirula's, says: "This year we started planning for Valentine's Day two-three months in advance, as opposed to three-four weeks earlier. After all, business goes up by almost 30-40 per cent, even if it falls on traditionally lean Mondays and Tuesdays. Also, now, Valentine's day is not just one day but the entire week."

At Barista, footfalls shoot up from 700-1,000 to 1,200-1,500, claims Surjya Meher, head of marketing. "People flock to our outlets because we provide an aspirational place to be with their partners."

At InterContinental The Grand in New Delhi, the hotel's pastry shop is running a strawberry promo (it figures), and R Kumar, assistant food and beverage manager, says: "It isn't as if only candlelight restaurants do good business, as earlier, but people now come in large groups and all restaurants do very good business."

Hotels and restaurants might be raking it in, but there's no getting away from big ticket promotions too "" and traditionally, other than flowers, (and as long as you aren't some soppy teenager) it's jewellery that has huge pick-up value in Valentine's week. No wonder 160-store Adora Jewellery has a special "Your Love Forever" promotion running through its outlets, Cafe Coffee Day cafeterias and the MSN website.

The star prize is an exclusive diamond jewellery set designed by melody queen Lata Mangeshkar; other high value prizes include exciting Star Cruise packages, ex-Singapore.

Those little hearts that are dotted all across your newspapers and fringe shop windows may be a case of overkill, but with hundreds of crores worth of merchandise and services on offer, Valentine's Day isn't fading away any time soon. Just hope you've remembered to buy your Valentine something special today!

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Airtell your emotions

Talk of innovative ideas to cash in on the Valentine mood! Mobile service provider Airtel has a bouquet of offers that includes a wide range of love videos, colour logos, themes, polytones, love ballads, romantic Hindi and English film music tracks, as well as an opportunity to sing one's favourite songs with karaoke on your mobile.

And opportunities to win gold worth Rs10,000 every day from the Win Gold Daily games section, featuring love games "Match Maker" and "Valentines' Day in Paris". All that Airtel mobile users need to do is log on to the Airtel Live! WAP portal and access these Valentine services.

And, just in case (and like the rest of humanity) you didn't know, here's a list of "special days" this fortnight that, with some more effort from marketing types, could translate into great sales opportunities a few years from now: February : Wedding Ring Day
February 5 : Primrose Day
February 7 : Card 4 Ur Friend Day
February 8 : Smile Day
February 10 : Valentines' Weekend
February 11 : New Friends' Day
February 12 : Chocolate Day
February 13 : Value Our Friendship, Dream of Ur Sweetheart February 14 : Valentine's Day
February 15 : Thanks 4 Ur Valentine
February 19 : Chocolate Mint Day
February 20 : Luv Ur Pet Day