Our objective was to motivate guests to shop Target in Fall and beyond, and to shift from being heavily private-label focused to being more of an enterprise-wide stream of work. The specific goals for the campaign were two-fold: improve category sales for apparel and home at a percentage that outpaces the competitive set; deliver on revenue forecast for total enterprise sales. This meant we had to still show the stylish assortment, but also had to infuse pops of product from across the store (such as grocery, toys, and essentials).

The strategy was to evoke the feeling of shopping at Target. A feeling so familiar, it’s created the most recognizable nickname in retail -- Tarjay. The idea was to provide rhyming vignettes and narratives that played with our nickname without Target ever having to say it officially. Each creative concept was paired a stylish product shot with a word that rhymes with Tarjay and gives the vignette a playful twist. A nod to the unexpected surprising and playful feelings associated with shopping at Target.

Our audience loves to shop, but they love other things too. Travel and tech and experiences, and that impacts share of wallet. And trends aren’t helping, outfits are more omni functional, basics are back, and styles are lasting longer. Still, our audience considers shopping for style something to do, not just something to get done. We saw a white space in this collection of insights. The market is saturated, we need to simplify the takeaways (1 master brand not 12 owned brands). This insight helped align clients, merchants, creative and media agencies around the Tarjay concept. With a concept based on feeling, we needed a media strategy that could place the message in front of people in emotive states.

We started with a huge launch day for our campaign that focused on heightened states of feeling. Getting your coffee in the morning feels good, so we put the campaign on coffee sleeves. Monday mornings can feel a bit groggy, so we didn’t air spots on Monday’s until after the work day was over. We launched our TV spot in the Emmy’s, because culture is feeling TV shows right now. We created one of the first custom partnerships with HQ trivia, which included a question about Tarjay and aired in front of over 1MM live viewers, because live trivia = fully engaged viewers. And we build an entire Apartment Therapy partnership to feed readers content based on what type of mood they were in.

Despite a YOY budget decrease of over 50%, we were able to maintain YOY awareness levels, brand linkage levels, and drove a higher return on investment than the previous two years.

Sales comp was nearly double forecast for the enterprise overall as well as Apparel and Home categories specifically. Awareness, Brand LInkage, and Branded Awareness levels were maintained despite ~60% decrease in budget. Differentiation returned to highest levels since 2015.