October 17, 2012
Paint Target Ridiculous, Runs Christmas Spot in October
A DailyFinance poll a couple of years ago asked consumers to list things that irked them most about retailers. On that list were retailers promoting Christmas items before Thanksgiving. If consumers weren’t happy about ads before they ate their turkey, it isn’t hard to imagine how they’ll feel about commercials hitting the airwaves three weeks before kids have made their rounds saying, "Trick or treat."
According to Advertising Age, Target is evidently looking to get a big head start on the competition for the holidays with a television commercial that features its bull terrier mascot Bullseye carrying a shopping bag. The voice-over says, "The holidays are coming and they’re gonna be big."
The spot also talks about Target’s new price match policy for the holidays that is set to begin on Nov. 1.
Consumers, based on early returns on social media sites, are not happy with Target’s approach. Ad Age cited several comments including one from a Jessica Armstrong on Facebook. "I’m absolutely appalled that you are airing Christmas commercials already. It’s not even Halloween!!! There is a time and a place for everything, and Christmas in October is not one of them!"
Of course, Target is simply looking to get an edge heading into the holidays when others, particularly those pushing layaway plans, are already getting consumers to set their sights on the holidays. Recent reports, discussed on RetailWire last week, talked about stock levels of popular toys dropping well ahead of schedule as consumers put items on layaway.
"The best way for a retailer to ensure it gets its fair share of holiday purchases is to get people thinking about the holiday as early as possible," Kim Finnerty, vice president of consumer and shopper insights for HMI’s Ryan Partnership, told the Chicago Sun-Times. "This is the time to start thinking about layaways, and we’ve already seen layaway announcements."
Interestingly, Target had been cheered for refusing to join the early advertising fray in the past. In 2010, then CMO Michael Francis told Ad Age that consumers were shopping closer to the actual holiday, making early ads a bad investment.
- Retailers’ 15 Most Annoying Habits: Readers Speak – DailyFinance
- Retail Reversal: Target Unwraps Holiday Ads Early – Advertising Age
- Target starts holiday ads well before Halloween – Chicago Sun-Times
- Target to match online pricing – MarketWatch
- Layaway Drives Early Sales of Christmas Toys – RetailWire
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Discussion Questions
Will Target’s early start on Christmas advertising work for or against the retailer? Do you think the competitive landscape will differ in any way for retail this holiday season versus those in the past?
Poll
There are plenty of big-box competitors already advertising their holiday toy departments, and Target — with a big investment of space and inventory in this business — can’t sit on the sidelines. The early holiday advertising has the added benefit of pushing the price-matching message. What worked in 2010 may not be the right tactic for 2012, if consumers are prepared to shop earlier for most-wanted items on their list…and if Target is prepared to capture market share as a result.
While I agree with the negative consumer comments about running Christmas ads before Halloween, without a layaway plan, Target felt the need to remind consumers that it’s open for the holidays. Some consumers may be annoyed, but will it really stop them from shopping at Target come November?
Put me in the camp that believes that when it comes to Holiday advertising it’s easy to have too much of a good (?????) thing.
It seems to me that once upon a time, people used to look forward to the holiday season — which didn’t begin in Octember and run through Janpril — for reasons beyond liquidating their personal net worth on the latest reincarnation of a Furby and those attractive five for $25 outlet mall Rick Santorum sweater vests. Congratulations Target for putting the “crass” back into “Merry Crassmess.”
Memory being as vague as it is, it’s easy to sometimes forget that the holidays are for anything other than building retail market share. But why wait until October to start promoting Crassmess?
I think the fourth of July is a fine time to begin offering free layaway! After all, in tough economic times — and much of America is still facing them — who doesn’t want to be incessantly reminded about all the nice things you can’t buy your loved ones?
As for this year’s retail landscape, I expect we will see both the wretched and excessive components of wretched excess amplified beyond the point of human endurance. It is — for better and worse — the American way.
Happy Holidays!
Target recently announced that it will discontinue its practice of releasing monthly sales results beginning in Fiscal 2013. While they are not the first retailer to do so, it seems that many retailers who are/were struggling have adopted this strategy (Walmart stopped reporting monthly sales in 2009 which corresponded with their weakening performance at the time).
Target released their comp store sales this past week and it is interesting to note that their comp store sales in September were 2.1 versus 5.3 in Sept 2011.
It may be argued that there is still too much retail square footage in this country and too many retailers chasing too few dollars in this uninspired economy. The CPI continues to rise and as gasoline edges up over $5 a gallon in parts of the country, concerns over disposable income and consumer spending at the all important Holiday time frame is growing.
Competition seems to ratchet up daily as retailers announce additional incentive programs (site-to-store, free shipping, loyalty cards, et al), financial rewards and financing options (Layaway, Walmart’s new Bluebird Debit Card JV with AMEX, etc).
Will Target’s marketing play pay off? Hard to say, perhaps the bigger question in their minds isn’t so much focused on consumer impressions as it is on consumer transactions….getting as many of them as they can.
It’s going to be another wild holiday season!
Much ado about nothing. It is a blunt against layaway gap in their business model and find a place to highlight price match. Showrooming is an issue in this retail category, so price match is their best tactic.
If you don’t have better things to advertise and stimulate than Christmas demand, might as well put some impressions behind it.
Most retailers will be entering the advertising game early because they are all paranoid about the competition getting ahead on this all important season. Target will be just one of many.
Not only are retailers advertising early but they are also putting the merchandise and decorations up already. I was in a Macy’s in the Washington D.C. area last weekend and the decorating had started. Do earlier starts mean earlier shopping and maybe shortages on key items, particularly in toys and electronics? This year’s holiday recap should include sales from all of November and December.
For several years, 30 minutes after eating Thanksgiving dinner, I grab my camping chair, blanket and e-book reader and run to Target for the Black Friday opening — the line is already a quarter mile long.
In a way, I kinda doubt this pre-season advertising will work against Target.
As long as Christmas products sell earlier and earlier, we can expect that retailers will keep moving the start date earlier. The strategy is to preempt the competition, and complete customer’s shopping lists before other retailers even get started. With the lack of real news between Back To School and Thanksgiving, you can expect more retailers to jump on the bandwagon.
How does this reconcile with consumer shopping closer to the holiday date? It is important to remember that certain customer segments are planners and will respond to early events, while others are deal shoppers who will wait until the end to get the best bargain they can. The mix between the two have shifted since the recession, but there are still at least two (if not more) segments.
Moving early with sales addresses the needs of one segment, while showing discounts toward the end addresses the other.
“Ridiculous” is a good word. The entire Christmas shopping cycle is ridiculous and in the end only affects the retailers’ bottom line negatively.
I think Target will feel a bit of a backlash for starting Christmas advertising on TV so early. I saw the ad on TV this past weekend and to be honest, I was a bit surprised by seeing this pre-Halloween and it did not make me think about starting Christmas shopping. Each year the Christmas push seems to start earlier.
I understand that the competitive landscape has changed, particularly with the layaway plans of many retailers, but there has to be a more subtle way to compete for holiday shoppers. What about Target’s “Shoppable” short films online? It would seem much less intrusive than Christmas commercials on TV.
Key point to remember is the last paragraph above “Target had been cheered for refusing to join the early advertising fray in the past. In 2010, then CMO Michael Francis told Ad Age that consumers were shopping closer to the actual holiday, making early ads a bad investment.” Apparently, their final results taught them that early ads aren’t such a bad investment after all.
Annoyed customers still buy; they’re afraid of missing out. The best retailers to respond to consumer actions not their lips.
The short answer to the first question is no. It is an image ad. There’s nothing wrong with putting an image out there and engaging the customer’s thinking. The negativity is only the result of asking a question and how it is asked. Target sees no harm from it. They may even see an advantage. It’s an interesting ad.
The competitive landscape has been changing dramatically for some time. No retailer really has a handle on it with maybe the exception of Amazon. They have been and are the focus of the changing landscape. There has been really no handle on the impact of online sales. It hasn’t been clearly defined or accurately interpreted by most.
The other factor is gift cards. This medium has been changing the landscape for some time as well. It’s not that retailers aren’t attempting to capitalize on selling them. It’s that retailers don’t know what to do about selling into them and including that factor in their overall holiday approach.
I don’t think it will matter either way because, frankly — based on what was described here — the campaign doesn’t sound very memorable and so it’s likely to be long forgotten when turkey time rolls around. Target at times seems to get wrapped up in its own cleverness, and this sounds like another example of it.
I think Target’s Pre-Halloween Christmas promotions will be ignored by most customers, but it won’t effect their usual Holiday shopping period patterns. Customers don’t remember that long … only consultants and blogs do.
Target’s early advertising may annoy some customers, but Target, and others, run these ads because customers respond to them.
There may be good reasons for the major chains to alter their Christmas promotional schedule but anecdotal complaints is not one of them.
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There are plenty of big-box competitors already advertising their holiday toy departments, and Target — with a big investment of space and inventory in this business — can’t sit on the sidelines. The early holiday advertising has the added benefit of pushing the price-matching message. What worked in 2010 may not be the right tactic for 2012, if consumers are prepared to shop earlier for most-wanted items on their list…and if Target is prepared to capture market share as a result.
While I agree with the negative consumer comments about running Christmas ads before Halloween, without a layaway plan, Target felt the need to remind consumers that it’s open for the holidays. Some consumers may be annoyed, but will it really stop them from shopping at Target come November?
Put me in the camp that believes that when it comes to Holiday advertising it’s easy to have too much of a good (?????) thing.
It seems to me that once upon a time, people used to look forward to the holiday season — which didn’t begin in Octember and run through Janpril — for reasons beyond liquidating their personal net worth on the latest reincarnation of a Furby and those attractive five for $25 outlet mall Rick Santorum sweater vests. Congratulations Target for putting the “crass” back into “Merry Crassmess.”
Memory being as vague as it is, it’s easy to sometimes forget that the holidays are for anything other than building retail market share. But why wait until October to start promoting Crassmess?
I think the fourth of July is a fine time to begin offering free layaway! After all, in tough economic times — and much of America is still facing them — who doesn’t want to be incessantly reminded about all the nice things you can’t buy your loved ones?
As for this year’s retail landscape, I expect we will see both the wretched and excessive components of wretched excess amplified beyond the point of human endurance. It is — for better and worse — the American way.
Happy Holidays!
Target recently announced that it will discontinue its practice of releasing monthly sales results beginning in Fiscal 2013. While they are not the first retailer to do so, it seems that many retailers who are/were struggling have adopted this strategy (Walmart stopped reporting monthly sales in 2009 which corresponded with their weakening performance at the time).
Target released their comp store sales this past week and it is interesting to note that their comp store sales in September were 2.1 versus 5.3 in Sept 2011.
It may be argued that there is still too much retail square footage in this country and too many retailers chasing too few dollars in this uninspired economy. The CPI continues to rise and as gasoline edges up over $5 a gallon in parts of the country, concerns over disposable income and consumer spending at the all important Holiday time frame is growing.
Competition seems to ratchet up daily as retailers announce additional incentive programs (site-to-store, free shipping, loyalty cards, et al), financial rewards and financing options (Layaway, Walmart’s new Bluebird Debit Card JV with AMEX, etc).
Will Target’s marketing play pay off? Hard to say, perhaps the bigger question in their minds isn’t so much focused on consumer impressions as it is on consumer transactions….getting as many of them as they can.
It’s going to be another wild holiday season!
Much ado about nothing. It is a blunt against layaway gap in their business model and find a place to highlight price match. Showrooming is an issue in this retail category, so price match is their best tactic.
If you don’t have better things to advertise and stimulate than Christmas demand, might as well put some impressions behind it.
Most retailers will be entering the advertising game early because they are all paranoid about the competition getting ahead on this all important season. Target will be just one of many.
Not only are retailers advertising early but they are also putting the merchandise and decorations up already. I was in a Macy’s in the Washington D.C. area last weekend and the decorating had started. Do earlier starts mean earlier shopping and maybe shortages on key items, particularly in toys and electronics? This year’s holiday recap should include sales from all of November and December.
For several years, 30 minutes after eating Thanksgiving dinner, I grab my camping chair, blanket and e-book reader and run to Target for the Black Friday opening — the line is already a quarter mile long.
In a way, I kinda doubt this pre-season advertising will work against Target.
As long as Christmas products sell earlier and earlier, we can expect that retailers will keep moving the start date earlier. The strategy is to preempt the competition, and complete customer’s shopping lists before other retailers even get started. With the lack of real news between Back To School and Thanksgiving, you can expect more retailers to jump on the bandwagon.
How does this reconcile with consumer shopping closer to the holiday date? It is important to remember that certain customer segments are planners and will respond to early events, while others are deal shoppers who will wait until the end to get the best bargain they can. The mix between the two have shifted since the recession, but there are still at least two (if not more) segments.
Moving early with sales addresses the needs of one segment, while showing discounts toward the end addresses the other.
“Ridiculous” is a good word. The entire Christmas shopping cycle is ridiculous and in the end only affects the retailers’ bottom line negatively.
I think Target will feel a bit of a backlash for starting Christmas advertising on TV so early. I saw the ad on TV this past weekend and to be honest, I was a bit surprised by seeing this pre-Halloween and it did not make me think about starting Christmas shopping. Each year the Christmas push seems to start earlier.
I understand that the competitive landscape has changed, particularly with the layaway plans of many retailers, but there has to be a more subtle way to compete for holiday shoppers. What about Target’s “Shoppable” short films online? It would seem much less intrusive than Christmas commercials on TV.
Key point to remember is the last paragraph above “Target had been cheered for refusing to join the early advertising fray in the past. In 2010, then CMO Michael Francis told Ad Age that consumers were shopping closer to the actual holiday, making early ads a bad investment.” Apparently, their final results taught them that early ads aren’t such a bad investment after all.
Annoyed customers still buy; they’re afraid of missing out. The best retailers to respond to consumer actions not their lips.
The short answer to the first question is no. It is an image ad. There’s nothing wrong with putting an image out there and engaging the customer’s thinking. The negativity is only the result of asking a question and how it is asked. Target sees no harm from it. They may even see an advantage. It’s an interesting ad.
The competitive landscape has been changing dramatically for some time. No retailer really has a handle on it with maybe the exception of Amazon. They have been and are the focus of the changing landscape. There has been really no handle on the impact of online sales. It hasn’t been clearly defined or accurately interpreted by most.
The other factor is gift cards. This medium has been changing the landscape for some time as well. It’s not that retailers aren’t attempting to capitalize on selling them. It’s that retailers don’t know what to do about selling into them and including that factor in their overall holiday approach.
I don’t think it will matter either way because, frankly — based on what was described here — the campaign doesn’t sound very memorable and so it’s likely to be long forgotten when turkey time rolls around. Target at times seems to get wrapped up in its own cleverness, and this sounds like another example of it.
I think Target’s Pre-Halloween Christmas promotions will be ignored by most customers, but it won’t effect their usual Holiday shopping period patterns. Customers don’t remember that long … only consultants and blogs do.
Target’s early advertising may annoy some customers, but Target, and others, run these ads because customers respond to them.
There may be good reasons for the major chains to alter their Christmas promotional schedule but anecdotal complaints is not one of them.