Momvertising Opps: Target in need of CMO, launches collection with Tabitha Brown (Score 52)

Effective May 2022, Target promoted Cara Sylvester to EVP and chief guest experience officer. Sylvester joined the company in 2007 and had most recently been promoted to EVP and chief marketing/digital officer. Target has not yet announced a replacement CMO, but we will let you know when it does so. A new CMO will mean potential changes in Target's spending strategy and agency roster.

Target recently launched the first of four new women's collections inspired by a partnership with social star - actor and influencer - Tabitha Brown. Her work with Target has resulted in a new collection of goods across categories such as apparel, swim, accessories, home, office, food, kitchenware and entertainment.

A campaign supporting this launch also debuted; it was made by Mythology with heavy influence from Brown. Touchpoints will run across Target stores and also include digital ads, social content, an experiential activation in Atlanta and OOH. Target's print magazine, "T.A.B. Magazine," also features the campaign on its cover.

Per Target, this partnership is the company's latest intentional effort to support Black-owned businesses and Black creators and designers, which is all part of its Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH) commitment. I expect it to continue utilizing cause marketing efforts like this one in the future.

Since the beginning of 2022, iSpot reports Target has allocated roughly $54.1m toward national TV commercials, down 19% from the roughly $66.6m allocated within the same 2021 timeframe. The company ended up allocating roughly $236.9m toward this channel last year, down only slightly (<1%) from the roughly $237.7m it allocated in 2020. Target's 2022 commercials have targeted male sports enthusiasts watching shows such as NFL Football, College Basketball, NBA Basketball, Good Morning America and American Idol.

According to Pathmatics, the retail giant has spent approximately $52.7m on digital ads YTD, only around half of the approximately $97.5m it had spent by this point last year. In 2021, Target's estimated full-year spend of $277m reached well more than double that of $128.6m in 2020. So far this year, the company has earned ~5.5b digital impressions via Facebook (34%), desktop video (27%), Instagram (22%), desktop display (7%), mobile video (6%), mobile display (3%) and Twitter (1%) ads. Most of this year's desktop video ads have been placed site direct onto destinations such as youtube.com (93%), fandom.com, yahoo.com, finance.yahoo.com and msn.com.

As you can tell, spend is steadily declining; sellers should contact soon to offer ways to help optimize ROI among Gen-Z and millennial parents, especially moms. Rememberer, this new campaign also includes an experiential activation, OOH installations and content on Target's magazine. Per Kantar data, along with these, the company invests in radio and local broadcast. 

Agency & martech readers - We are working hard to confirm whether Target is working with Mythology on an AOR or project-by-project basis, and we will let you know what we find. If the agency is a new AOR, Target may conduct additional reviews, especially considering the CMO vacancy, but if not, you'd still have a shot at project-based work. We haven't heard of any roster shifts since the company promoted Sylvester just over a year ago. Winmo states Target's roster currently includes multicultural AOR Third Ear, social and experiential AOR Periscope, creative, PR and multicultural AOR Mother NY and digital and media planning AOR Essence. The company receives additional assistance from Colle McVoy (creative) and Ketchum (PR).