Tag: Valentine's Day

Singapore – Women-first dating app Bumble has released a new campaign that is quite a mash-up celebration of the back-to-back festivity of Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day. The brand released a short film that features a heartfelt conversation between a mother and daughter inquiring about each other’s opinions on different musings on dating. 

Called ‘Breaking Barriers: Getting Real About Dating During CNY With Mum’, the short shows content creator Chow Jiahui and her mother open up about their thoughts on different reflections such as the convenience of meeting someone in each of their generations as well as their feelings about ringing in the Chinese New Year as a single.

As part of the campaign, from 23 January, Bumble users will be able to claim a complimentary tin of Bumble Love Letters by Kele Confectionery via an in-app link and have it delivered to them personally.

Lucille McCart, APAC communications director of bumble, said “The love letter is synonymous with both Chinese New Year festivities and Valentines’ Day. Much like the modern love letter, the love letter snack was originally used to relay messages of affection. Bumble Love Letters is our contemporary spin on this age-old practice. We want to revive the tradition of initiating a date with treats but also encourage singles to show love to the ultimate date – themselves.”

In addition, a nationwide survey by Bumble revealed that more than 1 in 5 singles (21%) feel pressured to be coupled up during CNY and/or Valentine’s Day, where top reasons include, “I don’t want to deal with family and friends asking why I am still single” (57%), “I feel self-conscious about being single” (47%),” and “I feel pressured by friends and family” (46%). 

McCart added, “Our findings in Singapore indicate that cuffing season occurs around Chinese New Year to Valentine’s Day, owing to social pressures around being coupled up during this period.”

Manila, Philippines – Tapping into Filipinos’ love for heart-warming stories, fast-food chain Jollibee continues to release more films that capture the spirit of new, true-to-life stories unique to the experiences of Filipinos in these current times. 

The films are made in partnership with agency McCann Worldgroup, and will also present themes of challenges that come with finding love during the pandemic, and have repeatedly redefined love for some and shown the real meaning of love to others.

For this year’s Kwentong Jollibee Valentines series, we get a genuine snapshot of this era – from lockdown relationships to K-drama crushes – as well as nuanced definitions of love from different perspectives.

The shorts ‘600 Days’ and ‘Dream Guy’ are directed by Antoinette Jadaone, while ‘ILY’ is directed by JP Habac. Both acclaimed filmmakers have captured the hearts of Pinoy audiences with previous Kwentong Jollibee episodes–‘LDR’ (2021) by Jadaone and the smash-hit ‘One True Pair The Movie’ (2021) featuring John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo by Habac.

Arline Adeva, assistant vice president and head of brand PR, engagement, and digital marketing at Jollibee, said, “What makes every Kwentong Jollibee film resonate and touch the lives of Filipinos is that these stories are rooted in the Filipino experience. We continuously make an effort to have our viewers know that their emotions, situations, problems, and successes are seen and heard while constantly reminding them that while the world may change, love will always remain constant and unflinching.”

Meanwhile, Sid Samodio, executive creative director at McCann Worldwide Philippines, commented that one thing that sets ‘Kwentong Jollibee’ apart is how it’s always current and timely. He added that it’s culled from life lessons and stories of different people through experiences brought by the times.

“Two years into the pandemic, we found that people were in a state of uncertainty. There have been so many stops and starts, with everybody needing to adjust to the constant changes. And in a world where people are becoming increasingly separated from one another, and where more relationships are formed and maintained online instead of face to face, where can we find the real meaning of love,” he concluded.

Manila, Philippines — As part of the Valentine’s Day celebrations, Canva Philippines has launched the #SayItSaCanva campaign, which brings users a series of love-themed templates and elements to help Filipinos express their love through creative content.

Canva’s campaign is still in line with the current challenges of the pandemic that gave people limited channels to show gestures of love. The newly released Valentine’s Day themed templates are meant to help Filipinos express their love in different formats whether that is through videos, presentations, social media posts, and more.

Yani Hornilla-Donato, the Philippines’ country manager for Canva, said that while the pandemic has affected our physical bonds, this doesn’t mean that it should also restrict us from sharing our love and appreciation for our loved ones.

“Canva’s mission is to empower the world to design, and we found this opportunity for Filipinos to express themselves in a creative and unique way through our engaging tools and resources; Canva wants people to share their stories and ‘Say It Sa Canva’. We want to enable Filipinos to share what’s in their heart, not just this February but all year-round with a diverse content library for all the milestones you want to commemorate and the feelings you want to celebrate,” Donato said.

All the special content for Valentine’s Day will be found in the Content Hub (public.canva.site/say-it-sa-canva) for the convenience of the platform users. The menu centre offers an array of unique content one for each beloved namely significant other, family, best friend, yourself, among others.

Canva’s campaign also features a timed design challenge where participants can choose a love letter template from the Content Hub, customize the design, and post it on their social media accounts with the hashtag #SayItSaCanva or comment it on Canva’s Facebook page. Interested participants can send their entries until 11:59 pm on 22 Feb and the top 30 designs will be announced by the end of the month.

Singapore – TikTok has announced the third edition of its TikTok Music Night which is a post-Valentine’s Day celebration in Asia – ”Love Edition” – to be streamed live on the TikTok app in February 18 at 7:30 p.m. SGT. 

TikTok Music Night Asia “Love Edition” will feature some of the top romantic artists in the region, such as MICappella from Singapore, Ariel Tsai from Taiwan, Layla Sania from Malaysia as well as Filipino performer Route 83, and Indonesia’s Afgan, among many others. 

Through the event, TikTok aims to promote creativity and bring joy to the public. The first live stream stage was in October 2020 and has expanded well beyond Korea to other countries across Southeast Asia, including Singapore. Recent editions featured internationally acclaimed artists, such as Pentatonix, Lauv, and Conan Gray, among others.

Aside from the local up-and-coming artists from Asia, the “Love Edition” will also feature guest performances from international artists such as Pink Sweat$ performing ‘At My Worst’ followed by Max, whose hit romantic song ‘Blueberry Eyes’ featured Suga of BTS. Local Singapore artists, such as Benjamin Kheng ft. J.Sheon and EstelleFly will also perform in the live stream event.

Here are the following Asian artists on the upcoming Music Night:

● MICappella, Singapore

● 蔡佩軒 Ariel Tsai, Taiwan

● 鄭心慈 Kelly Cheng, Taiwan

● cinnamons × evening cinema, Japan

● ALEXA, Korea

● MOMMY SON (Feat. Wonstein, Chanjuicy), Korea

● Layla Sania, Malaysia

● NOAH & Shakira Jasmine, Indonesia

● Afgan, Indonesia

● Route 83, Philippines

● Alisson Shore, Philippines

● Violette Wautier, Thailand

● Earth Patravee, Thailand

● CARA, Vietnam

Singapore – The pandemic has been a driving force of the increase of Google searches related to Valentine’s Day gifts, more specifically a 57% increase compared to 2019, according to statistics from e-commerce aggregator iPrice.

iPrice observed certain Asian countries’ Google searches on romantic gifts, such as in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, and it was found that among gifts searched during Valentine’s day, ‘Care Packages’ were looked into the most, with a surge of 238%. ‘Care package’ is a term coined during the lockdown, which refers to a personalized bundle of items that could contain any gifts such as food, stationery, or even health-related items, as a gesture of connecting to loved ones and friends.

The top search on the term was followed by ‘scented candles’, which tallied a 236% surge. Interestingly, ‘lingerie gift’ searches have also spiked by 82%.

Which are the most sought after gifts this Valentines - iPrice Group

Common gift items for Valentine’s Day have also seen a greater increase in online searches, including terms ‘roses’ (123%), ‘flowers’ (83%), ‘chocolates’ (50%), and ‘bouquets’ (49%).

Dating apps have also drawn greater attention at a time of lesser physical interactions. The same report has stated that between the period of February 2020 and January 2021, keywords results in relation to each country’s top 5 dating apps have increased. 

The study explains that this means if a person types any of the top dating apps in the app store, like ‘Tinder’ for example, results for apps like Tinder would show. iPrice observed such an increase in suggested dating apps related to dating apps in all Asian countries during the pandemic.

Did the pandemic drive the rise of dating apps in Asia - iPrice Group

Interestingly, Taiwan takes the top spot with a surge of 194% of keyword results of dating apps. The trend is followed by Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Singapore with the most increase in keyword results on dating apps in the App Store.