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Retail Industry

Target plans to 'own' red to keep business in black - Campaign around its signature bulls-eye has been successful; wins awards at Retail Advertising conference

DSN Retailing Today, Feb 24, 2003 by Laura Heller

CHICAGO -- The Retail Advertising Council's annual conference and awards ceremony this year was all about buzz and passion. And Target Stores, the golden child of the RAC program, was responsible for the lion's share of the excitement, as senior vp of marketing Michael Francis delivered a presentation detailing the retailer's prowess in this area.

Year after year, Target sweeps these awards, and this year, Francis illustrated not only how, but talked about the company's newest goal: to own the color red.

With TV spots and images flashing on two giant screens in the Hilton Hotel's Grand Ballroom, Francis outlined how Target emerged as the fashion-forward discount retailer it is today "We knew we would never be able to compete solely on price," he said. "We knew there was a customer out there who wanted [something different] ."

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So the company embarked on the path of differentiation it still follows today According to Francis, Target's strategy has several important and overlapping objectives. The need to deepen the bond with the existing customer who identifies Target as a place for trendy and exclusive merchandise and to keep her coming back. "We need to feed the cult of Target," he said.

Target is also looking to broaden its reach with younger consumers in a large part through advertising and finally, said Francis, the constant need to create buzz. "Yes, I admit it, there are some things we do solely for buzz," he said. Like the SS Target that docked in New York's Chelsea Piers during the holidays.

Buzz is one thing, but how that translates into sales is sometimes another.

"Target has to be congratulated for their vision, for their appreciation of design and beauty, and for daring to dream big," said Irma Zandl, president of the Zandl Group, a research and consulting firm. "That said, however, there's a substantial gap between the amount of hype they receive and their sales numbers, which are generally good, but not stellar, given their idolized status."

In particular, said Zandl, Target's efforts to court the youth market have not yielded much in the way of results. "Although the advertising has a very youthful look and energy, we haven't seen any up-tick at all in the [up to] 24-year-old market in the past five years," she said.

Francis highlighted partnerships with designers such as Stephen Sprouse. Phillipe Starck and Todd Oldham, all of which have created buzz for the chain. But Starck-designed merchandise is now absent from it stores and Todd Oldham's dorm collection was marked down for clearance shortly after the 2002 back-to-school season. Sprouse's design's for Target may have been modeled by No Doubt's Gwen Stefani on the cover of Cosmo girl! magazine, but the actual returns are more difficult to quantify.

According to Francis, these efforts are priceless in their brand-building contributions. "[Branding] has been an obsession since 1998," he said. "Everything at Target is filtered through its brand image." Francis also holds the informal title of "Brand Czar."

Target's campaign around its signature bulls-eye has been so successful-96% of consumers recognize the Target logo, he said-that the retailer has set an even higher goal for itself. "We are no longer satisfied with owning the bull's-eye, now we want to own the color red." To show how committed the company is to this goal, he treated RAC attendees to an image of chairman and ceo Bob Ulrich dressed all in red, a portrait that hangs, said Francis, in the company's new corporate headquarters in Minneapolis. A building that itself is topped in red lights.

RELATED ARTICLE: Target cleans house with 37 RAC awards

CHICAGO -- Target continues its, steady march toward dominance--dominance of the advertising and marketing world, that is, as the company once again swept the awards given at the Retail Advertising Conference held here Feb. 5 to 7.

In fact, Target Corp. garnered 37 of the total 68 awards for which it was eligible, including two awards each for Mervyn's and Marshall Field's in the department store category. But Target stores had to cede the "Best of the Best" award, this, year, to its very own Marshall Field's, which won for its French Countryside campaign used to Promote the chain's Spring Flower Show.

Big Lots made a showing with two gold winners in the mass merchandisers category Kmart also managed to garner three awards in this category each for positioning ads commemorating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. One newspaper spot, a gold winner, was simply a blank page with the words, "A moment of silence" is small type at the bottom, just above the Kmart logo.

Among specialty retailers, Toys "R" Us garnered considerable attention with three awards for its Times Square store opening and "The Big Guy is Back" TV campaign. The Home Depot, La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries, Best Buy, Circuit City, REI, The, Great Indoors, Finish Line, Ethan Allen, Play it Again Sports, Sam Goody and Orchard Supply Hard<ware all took a prize at some level.

Retail Industry

Target plans to 'own' red to keep business in black - Campaign around its signature bulls-eye has been successful; wins awards at Retail Advertising conference

DSN Retailing Today, Feb 24, 2003 by Laura Heller

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