I’ve watched, and admired, Target Store’s advertising for years. Not just because it’s good advertising, which it is. And not just because it has managed to maintain a consistent design ethic and tonal quality in a world where marketers hop between brand identities like coked-up frogs with ADD. I dig it because Target made their advertising a key component in their battle to differentiate themselves from, and survive against, Wal-Mart. Something many discount, big box retailers have failed to do. (Venture Stores, anyone?) They’ve done so well that K-Mart, in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy yet again, has basically ripped off Target’s aesthetic. And if anyone out there has actually been to a K-Mart in the last three years, please let me know how that’s working out in-store.
I liked Target’s advertising so much that I once harassed one of their agencies, Peterson Milla Hooks, about joining them. They were polite, yet somehow unimpressed by my Swan Lake Barbie TV spot for Wal-Mart. Whatever.
On Sunday night, during the Emmy Awards, Target had at least one spot in every commercial pod. Mostly new and none older than a couple of weeks. A few featured their brand name designers: Michael Graves, Isaac Mizrahi, Mossimo, Chef Boyardee. Others were those stylized montages of pretty people with products gyrating about on colorful backgrounds. All very well done. All very much in keeping with Target’s raison d'etre for advertising. I probably saw a dozen or more spots in the space of three hours.
Which is when it hit me: Target advertising is pure associative advertising. (Which is phrase I just coined for lack of a better term.) The only point of Target ads is to say, “If you like this style, this feeling, this image then shop here.” Period. No product benefits. No prices. No talking head trying to tell you how to feel about the great values you’ll find. Nothing about how their stores are less cluttered than Wal-Mart’s. In fact, the advertising is fairly disconnected from the shopping experience. You don’t go to Target to browse. You go buy toilet paper. And if you happen to see a cool clock or t-shirt, you buy it. You don’t really feel all warm and tingly while you’re there. But you *do* feel better when you mention that you went shopping at Target last night instead of the big W.
Target advertising advertises the soul of the brand. Which is why most companies stick to price/item and testimonials. After all, you have to have a soul in order to share it.
Later,
Fox
2 comments:
You watched 3 hours worth of the Emmys?
Don't like em. When Target is cool, no one's cooler. But these reek of trying way to hard. I think it's the whiney music that takes it over the edge. But the stiff choeography of the talent and that awkward match cut business doesn't help.
Still, they're better than Target's back to school effort. Easily the worst ads the Retailer has done to date. The animated figures made of school supplies could have worked but the music was terrible. It was like an inspirational rap your parents might make up.
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