Target To Bloggers: Drop Dead
In 2008, everyone knows that the media is no longer just traditional outlets like newspapers and television stations. Well, everyone but Target.
As retailers wade knee-deep into the recessionary waters, the cheap chic retailer needlessly added a patina of tarnish to its brand reputation last week when one of its “public relations persons” told ShapingYouth.org blogger Amy Jussel to buzz off in reply to her complaint about an ad in Times Square. The billboard in question depicted a young lady making a snow angel. The issue? Her crotch rested right in the middle of the Target bulls eye logo, making the picture seem suggestive to some critics.
“Unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets,” The New York Times reported the anonymous PR person wrote in response to Jussel’s complaint. “This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest.” Whoa, let me out the door, please!
The resulting media brushfire, with Google listing 150+ stories from the likes of The New York Times, Gawker, CNET and ClickZ News to the Marketing Pilgrim, surely impacted some Target shoppers. Moreover, it strikes to the heart of the retailer’s core brand values, which include “connecting business and community, affordability and great design” and “making out communities better places to live.”
What’s wrong with this picture? First, by e-mailing Jussel, Target did engage with the blogger, which calls its “policy” into question from the outset.
But more importantly, since the turn of the century, the blogosphere has been fairly universally accepted among the burgeoning ranks of legitimate media outlets. Technorati and other several sites, chart the growth and popularity of blogs, which enables PR professionals to target appropriate bloggers to engage with. The major clipping services like Burrelles/Luce monitor blogs as does Google’s Blog Alerts. The leading paid news wires such as BusinessWire and PRNewswire include blogs among their distribution lists. No doubt Target’s PR department receives clips from blogs on a daily basis.
Wikipedia notes Technorati counted 112 million blogs at the end of 2007, among them a not so unmanageable universe of 1,504 devoted to retail subjects. But as all readers of blogs are human, and are consumers, let’s conservatively say each blog has three readers (writer + two others) for a total of 336 million, which is somewhat larger than the USA populace. Surely, there are Target customers lurking among these millions.
How does Target’s policy reflect their PR rep’s understanding of brand value and customer loyalty in the age of the bionic consumer, where one misstep can sever longstanding relationships? Not well. It would appear that Target’s PR people would do well to revisit “Branding 101” and review the importance of customer experience management at every consumer touchpoint.
While we recognize that communications is but part of the marketing mix, it plays an increasingly powerful role in a marketplace filled with commodity players. With consumers avidly seeking more personalization and customization from marketers, Target would be wise to review its communications policies.
Blogger Jussell, who described herself as a faithful Target shopper, summed it the situation. “Any customer deserves a response to her concerns, so I found this to be a shortsighted, ill-conceived judgment call.” We think it may well have an impact at the cash register as well.
Len Stein is president of New Rochelle, NY-based Visibility Public Relations.
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