The document discusses A Bullseye View, Target's in-house media site that shares stories about the brand. It provides daily editorial content like articles, photos, and videos to give insights into Target's news, culture, and partnerships in engaging ways. The site aims to offer a behind-the-scenes look at Target through storytelling approaches like event coverage, interviews, and influencer engagement across celebrities, audiences, and online personalities. It also sometimes breaks company news as an alternative to traditional press releases.
5. ABullseyeView.com
A Bullseye View covers the ideas, people and happenings
that make Target, Target.
The site serves up daily editorial— interviews, photo
galleries, videos, articles and infographics—that bring
Target news and perspectives to life in shareable ways.
6. ‘Behind the Scenes’
The site takes readers into the “green room” and backstage of all that’s
happening at the brand, from corporate reputation to fashion and style news.
15. 15
A Bullseye View is sometimes an
alternative to traditional press releases
for announcing company news.
Target skipped a press
release to use ABV
instead to reveal its new
bridal line. The post was
picked up by dozens of
blogs and media outlets.
Breaking News Source
16. 16
1) Don’t be afraid to try new things – not everything
will work
2) Saying no is just as important as saying yes
3) Must be timely; we need to be there when it’s current
3 Key Lessons Learned
It’s great to be here in good company with other amazing brands. Like all of you, Target is paying close attention to the way technology has changed the way brands and guests interact with each other. Social media has opened the door to instant conversations and responses. How we continue to build brand love is our daily challenge. We’ve all heard that the answer is “content” – a word that is talked about frequently these days. But there’s a difference between content and stories. Content is everywhere. Any brand can distribute content. The challenge is to turn the content into great stories.
We use many social communication platforms to engage with our fans. The number of platforms we use is not important. It’s how we use them. And, how they are integrated, so we can share consistent stories that build deeper connections.
Our designer partnerships have paved an incredible path in the fashion industry for Target. The game changer for us was Missoni in 2011. When we announced the partnership, we realized we were missing a place to hold all of the information and share it in a deeper more meaningful way. We needed a place to tell the whole story. The visual story. The behind the scenes story. In the Missoni spirit of all things new and different, launching our homegrown online magazine was the answer, A Bullseye View. And, we only had six weeks to get it done - we announced in July and built momentum to Fashion Week when we made the debut.
After much debate, we decided to call it A Bullseye View. The name says it all … a behind the scenes look at all things Target, a source of inspiration and a place where Target’s style and voice comes to life.
It’s like having the opportunity to sit in the greenroom before a big news segment or going backstage at a concert – you get to see how things come together. The site has changed how Target looks at and distributes content.
Like Missoni, our designer partnerships receive a lot of attention. In the old days, we would host a killer launch party but only 300 or so guests would be invited. Now, we are able to share the experience on A Bullseye View for everybody to see. Earlier this year, our camera crew went behind the scenes at our PrabalGurung launch party to invite everybody in to experience the collection, capture the looks, and rub elbows with celebrities and personalities behind the collaboration.
Fortunately, Target has great stories to tell. The site provides an opportunity for our guests to get to know us and experience what they love about the brand, which is due in large part to people finding the content worthy of being shared. What makes content worthy of being shared? I’d like to share with you a few examples of how we approach storytelling and why they work well for our site Let’s check it out …
Developing guest relationships are extremely important to us. As a mass retailer, we communicate with many audiences and engage them on a variety of messages. This is a challenge and an opportunity. We need to make our messages relevant, whether it’s Mom shopping for back to school supplies, or the aspiring fashionista wanting to be up on the latest trends. A key feature of A Bullseye View is its rich content, sparking a variety of interests … and satisfying our guests’ appetite for more information.
ABV is a great place to tell the story behind the story – we’re constantly looking for ways to dive deeper into a story, creatively, and reveal additional layers … stories you expect to see and ones you would never expect. Justice League exampleFirst launch story – PD&D story on the development of the collectionNext, telling the story of five real-life Target super heroes Then, Justice League inspired recipes for kids – S’Mores and lemonade
It helps that Target has strong brand affinity. We’re lucky to have our celebrity partners share their expertise and give our guests access to their tips, favorites, trends, and how-to’s—Everything from how to make Giada De Laurentiis’ perfect Mother’s Day brunch to Sonia Kashuk sharing how to achieve runway-worthy looks
Rodner Figueroa exampleStyle expert Rodner Figueroa’s Mother’s Day story was one of our most tweeted stories from ABV - a testament to the content and his incredible fan base.
Inner Circle exampleOne of our Target Inner Circle bloggers, Gina from Skinnytaste, shared a recipe that has received almost 10,000 views and was a top traffic driver to our site in June
A traditional press release isn’t the only way to announce news. Some announcements are a perfect fit for A Bullseye View; media frequently picks up the storiesTevolio exampleWe announced Target’s new bridal collection on ABVThe story received wide-spread pick-up including stories in the Huffington Post, two segments on GMA and a segment on Today show
A Bullseye View has just reached its two year mark. We’ve learned a lot along the way and are continuously evolving our strategy.I’ll leave you with a few learnings and advice:Don’t be afraid to have things not work.Once our stories go live, that’s when the stories come to life and we discover what works and what doesn’t. People love a variety of content. Although we’ve seen a lot of success with great buzz worthy stories like Justin Timberlake’s exclusive Target CD or an announcement of a new designer partnership, our guests also love our brand posts. Our most successful story to date has been Fifty, Fun and Friendly highlighting a history of Target firsts.Need to say no to stories we know aren’t right for the site.Must be timely; we need to be there when it’s current.Although we plan out our editorial calendar more than a month in advance, we’re also able to be really nimble and able to publish content quickly while it is still timely. Our goal is to include something for everyone but make sure that it is compelling and memorable. There are also times when we want to post something immediately, and the digital format allows the flexibility and feasibility to post something within hours. Examples Morning after FEED event we shared Lauren Bush Lauren’s iPhone pics from the party
As a brand, we don’t sit still – we’re happy with the site but it’s not a checkbox –we’re not sitting back … we’re evolvingWe’re making small tweaks weeklyExcited to revamp the site in the Fall