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Back to talking about the work and the start of February heralds the imminent arrival of the God of Love himself for shops and shoppers alike.
At our shopping centres we like to find a slightly different way of getting this message across, dependant on the target audience - after all, who does not believe in love?
At Saxon Square in the beautiful seaside town of Christchurch, our audience is in the slightly older demographic and we wanted to celebrate that and celebrate love. So we put out a call for nominations for the Longest Married Couple in Christchurch and every entrant we had was couples who have been married at least 60 years - a phenomenal achievement.
We wanted to avoid cynicism about love and marriage and instead celebrate the art of keeping romance alive. The winning couple have been married 68 years and living in Christchurch for the past 42. When asked about their tips for enjoying such a long, happy and successful marriage, both agreed that give and take, tolerance, a sense of proportion and mutual respect were crucial, in addition to love of course.
On the other hand, the Harvey Centre in Harlow enjoys a younger audience which meant we could play with stereotypes and humour a little more there.
Following the success of a similar search for a love duffer in 2008 which yielded some amusing responses, we again joined forces with the most popular local radio station to see whether we could uncover the area's least romantic man and attempt to turn him into a love god in time for Valentine's Day.
We were also able to enhance the superb range of prizes once again donated by generous tenants with prizes from new promotional partners in Harlow - including a local motor dealership which provided a chauffer-driven car and Spa hotel which provided a romantic meal for two.
