Dear Purchaser-

Valentine’s Day has always been a special day for us Messicks. After all, it was my ancestor Reginald D. Messick who first came up with the idea back in 1850. He was playing a game of strip whist with Esther A. Howland, a young entrepreneur working with the American Greeting Card Producers Association. As Reginald explained to Esther, a holiday wherein men were made to feel guilty if they didn’t spend lots of money on their wives or girlfriends would fatten everyone’s coffers, from the greeting card producers, to the floral concern, to the chocolate barons of the Northeast. Thus was Valentine’s Day born.

From a professional standpoint, I’ve always thought a lot more could have been done with the whole Valentine’s Day concept. Why are our loved ones satisfied with flowers and chocolates? Why not luxury cars and real estate? Also, where are the months and months of hype, like you see with Christmas? Why doesn’t the martyred corpse of St. Valentine visit all the loving little boys and girls on Valentine’s Eve? Come on, Corporate America... get on the ball!

For that matter, why don’t we create a few more commerce driven holidays? We should have Envy Day, where we finally buy all the things our neighbors have that we’ve been coveting. Or, Gluttony Day, where we stuff ourselves silly at our local eateries. Better yet, why not Brown Tee-Shirt Day? There’s a lot to be done with this.

On a personal level, I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about Valentine’s Day. As you may recall, the wife and I aren’t particularly close (and never have been) so I usually send my assistant out on February 13th with a crisp $50 bill and have her do the dirty work. My wife doesn’t complain, I don’t complain, and my assistant complains just enough to let me know that I’m keeping her busy. Everyone is happy... except my assistant, of course.

This Valentine’s Day, we at Supermasterpiece are doing our part to increase the hype. You’ll find a full week’s worth of lovey-dovey related material here, updated on a daily basis as usual.

Keep tuning in all week, and you just may get back that lovin’ feelin’... or, at the very least that spendin’ feelin’.

Sincerely,

Chris Messick
Chief Executive Officer
Supermasterpiece Industries

Read more Messick Reports HERE.