Case Study for Agency
03-1015028-791

Target, part of the Dayton Hudson Corporation (America’s fourth largest
general merchandise retailer), needed help in launching their brand in
the Northeast, representing 67% of Dayton’s revenues, Target is an
“upscale” discount chain of 753 stores in over 40 states.

Marketing Challenge
Minneapolis-based Target came to us because they were about to open
their first store in the Northeast. The brand was well-established (and
much-loved) almost everywhere else, so the challenge was to establish
the essence of the brand and make it relevant, motivating and exciting
to the NY/NJ shopper. In addition, there was clearly more than one
target audience: as well as shoppers, there were Manhattan’s many
opinion leaders including financial analysts on Wall Street and the
fashion community. Any "launch" communication had to appeal to the
average shopper, create a powerful image, and appeal to these "opinion
leaders."

Category Dynamics/Conversation
Initial research was conducted among Target loyalists to understand the
brand from their perspective. They helped define how great the Target
shopping experience really is – service levels surpass all other
discount stores and many department stores; products are high quality;
the staff is extremely helpful and knowledgeable.

Research was also conducted among NY/NJ shoppers, who represent
Target's core audience, but had no prior knowledge of Target. These
shoppers helped define the shopping experience in the NY/NJ area –
generally poor by all accounts: poor service, narrow aisles, long
lines, unhelpful employees (if you could even find one!), and so on.

Key Insight
Target’s brand personality is intrinsically very friendly, unassuming,
honest, professional, smart, and politely irreverent – in direct
contrast with the NY/NJ shopping experience which leaves a lot to be
desired; the NY/NJ shopper "deserves" a better shopping experience;
Target would represent a better shopping experience in the Northeast,
and would be something of a culture shock to most NY/NJ shoppers. In
addition, Target loyalists would act as our greatest advocates in
spreading the word.

Strategy
Target is "TOO NICE FOR NEW YORK." Target was in a perfect position to
support this strategic premise: it has a number of service and product
attributes that make it a wholly better shopping experience. Many
competitive stores promote service "policies" when they enter a market
and are quick to drop them when they have built up traffic, but Target
upholds its policies.

They also have an amazing variety of quality products – many of which
people can’t believe they can get in a discount store. This
juxtaposition between stereotypical NY/NJ shoppers and the "niceness"
of Target provided a platform for the creative work to demonstrate how
(and why) a better shopping experience was coming to the area. And
allowed us to pose a very bold and challenging tagline as a question:
"ARE YOU READY FOR A STORE LIKE THIS?"

The Results
"Sales for Target, Menlo Park, in its opening week, placed it as the
top store. Since that week, it has remained in the top 5 stores
sales-wise. This makes it the most successful store opening ever," said
Bob Thacker, VP Marketing, Target Stores.

Following on from this success, we were assigned the task of evolving
the "Are You Ready For A Store Like This?" campaign into all other
store opening markets across the States.

We have also been awarded a number of other projects, including the
extremely successful up-and-running "Fashion and Housewares" campaign,
as well as, several design, trending and strategic consulting projects.