Somewhere, someone gave the order. The edict has come down, in case you were absent for the meeting. The Ad gods have spoken. Every retail commercial on TV must look exactly like a Target commercial. You know the ones; they look like Target advertising but they’re not. Doesn’t matter what your store is, just make it look like what Target is doing. We won’t know you’re not Target, so we’ll rush down and buy whatever you’re selling.
Almost everyone on TV has been Targeted. Other department stores are Targetish. A very large and supposedly successful retail giant has Targetated. Car dealers are Targetesque. A well-known thrift store has a Targetoid commercial. And that funeral home with the multicolored, spinning caskets? Targeting the afterlife? I have seen Target-looking spots for almost everyone except Target lately.
I know, I see, I smell, I hear, I get it. Target is more successful in retail than Trojan is in latex. Hotter than Harley is in cycles. Hotter than Peterbilt is with big, honking diesels. But does every commercial have to look like Target? Is it just me? Am I the only one who has noticed this Targetization of American retail branding?
No.
JACK from TX: “I saw a commercial for a pet shop. I swear, I thought Target had started selling multicolored dogs and cats.”
(Is that on YouTube?)
RAUL from NYC: “I have lost track of what Target is doing because everyone is now doing what Target is doing. Me, too. I am thinking of changing my name from Raul to Target.”
(Hmm, it’s better than Raul, actually)
CHERRELLE from MS: “I have an idea. Why don’t all of the people who are imitating Target do something different, like, you know, their own idea.”
GLENDA from TN: “I love Target. I love their commercials. I am having trouble telling the difference between their commercials and so many Target wannabes. I guess nobody can think of anything new?”
(Ding, ding, ding. Glenda and Cherrelle win the prize for having a brain.)
SAM in AL: “Here’s the message I get from those people who do advertising that looks like Target: When in doubt, Target. If your sales are in the toilet, Target. When you have no ideas of your own, Target. What else am I suppose to think? I’ll tell you what I think, I think of Target. Is that how you want to spend your money? Making me think of their store instead of yours?”
(Sam is a smart guy and I should have let him write this.)
GIGI from FL: “Am I on the air right now? Can America hear me? Stop being Target unless you ARE Target! Did that go through? Thank you.”
(Gigi clearly thought I was recording her comment, but that’s another story.)
Anyway, this story is simple: Target is Target. You are not. I am not. We are not. Only Target is Target. You won’t be Target-like by not being unique. If you do commercials that look like Target’s, then you are saying, “We are not like Target. We are fake Targets.” Being original is what made Target so Targety.
In closing, I want you to close your eyes and imagine this blog as a Target commercial.
I feel so much more successful now.
