Valentine’s Day campaigns tend to overstate the joy of relationship. For 180heartbeats + Jung v. Matt and Zalando this was an opportunity to twist the formula. While everyone is ooh-ing and aah-ing over love, the partners are getting practical about break-ups.

The campaign film features three break-up stories, each of which ends with an emotion-laden tossing out of clothes. The brand then offers a better solution. Instead of throwing clothes away, Zalando Pre-Owned allows people to extend the life of no longer desired clothes for the sake of the planet.

The campaign, which launched in Poland and will be adapted for use in Germany, is built around a video directed by Krzysztof Grajper which directs viewers to a special hub on Zalando.pl, where customers can learn how to give clothes a chance for a new life in a few simple steps. The film is supported with photos taken by Gosia Turczyńska and educational materials that will premiere on Valentine’s Day. To further encourage consumers to break away from troublesome souvenirs from the past, a group of influencers will explain on their channels how the Pre-Owned category works on Zalando.

“Through our unusual Valentine’s Day campaign, we want to increase customer awareness of Zalando Pre-Owned and encourage them to take advantage of the offer in this category. We want to show that exchanging clothes in a more sustainable way is possible both on Valentine’s Day and throughout the year. Thus, we want to motivate our customers to make more conscious decisions and to act together for the benefit of the planet,” explained Dawid Pożoga, regional lead for Poland and the Czech Republic in Zalando.

With Pre-owned, customers can easily exchange unwanted items directly on Zalando, to receive a Zalando Gift Card of the appropriate value or donate funds to support two partner charities, Red Cross or WeForest. All used items on Zalando are quality checked and become an assortment available to millions of customers. In line with Zalando’s sustainability policy, all pre-owned orders use plastic-free recycled paper packaging.

The campaign is running on Zalando’s own channels (including social media, a dedicated hub on Zalando.pl, newsletter and application), and is supported by PR activities and online media.

Visit the pre-owned hub here.