Target Inc. has just launched a new ad campaign to market their Halloween products on Instagram. The company is taking advantage of Instagram’s interactive tagging feature by posting nine photos of “Halloween Hills” virtual images and asks users to “knock” or tap once for trick or treat. This then reveals the tags on the photo and you can choose either the trick or treat tag to take you to another profile filled with fun DIY ideas using Target products. If you tap the treat tag it will take you to a page with Instagrams of DIY recipes using Target products and similarly if you tap trick it will bring you to a page of DIY crafts featuring other Target products. The company has released nine trick or treat images today, each with a trick and a treat DIY project and plans to release six more over the next two weeks to keep the campaign current and engaging.
This new campaign is unlike anything Target has ever done in its advertising focusing more on social media and interactive ads rather than just print or tv ads that often appeal to an older audience that reads the paper or watches tv over scrolling through Instagram. Not only is the ad creative and engaging by using Instagram, but it also branches out by using the DIY culture that has developed in recent years. However while the campaign is innovative and unique it falls short of the main goal of advertising: selling the product. While the Instagram ads feature target products there is no direct way for the customers to then buy the products from the Instagram page, they must manually go to a Target store or Target.com and search for the products themselves. Sure the DIY project posts serve for great inspiration but, is inspiration enough? Especially when most of the products featured are not exclusive to Target and can be bought at multiple retailers. However, Dustee Jenkins, VP of Public Relations and Social Media for Target argues, “This campaign is really built on the notion of driving engagement and fueling brand love [and it is] really about celebrating the Halloween experience.” But is brand love enough to drive sales? If I saw these posts on my Instagram feed I would love the ideas and projects from them but I wouldn’t run to the nearest target to buy the products for the craft. In all honesty I would use what I had first if I was ever proactive enough to try the projects in the first place.
Do you think the inspiration and engagement is enough or do you too think it needs just an extra step to really make it effective advertising.
References
Richards, K. (2014, October 14). Target Has Found A Creative Way To Use Instagram’s Limited Capabilities To Trick Or Treat For Halloween. Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://ift.tt/1sDFcO9
Rodriguez, A. (2014, October 14). Target Takes Trick-or-Treating to Instagram | Digital – Advertising Age. Retrieved October 16, 2014, from http://ift.tt/1qwA5uH
Target on Instagram. (2014, October 14). Retrieved October 16, 2014, from http://ift.tt/1dGGscM
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