I read over on Sarahs site that she loves target and was encouraging people to let Target know they should have a moms panel, much like Walmart does, to help assist and inform the largest population of shoppers out there…moms. And due to their recent issues with the whole car seat fiasco, it seems smart to have a voice in the population that was so upset.
So I decided to help her and send a letter to Target as well encouraging them to create one. I said there are literally tons of women that would want to be a part of it, including myself, and basically ‘mom bloggers’ could really assist them and would love to see them create a “moms panel”.
This is the letter I just got back. It seems a bit snotty to me. I think maybe they SHOULD get some moms out there. Good thing they have “hired team members and consultants” who get paid to kiss their asses!
Hope its not Motrin’s team…….
~Trisha
Dear Trisha Haas,
While it’s fun to hear about ways you’d like to make Target better,
we must decline your marketing proposal. I’m sorry for any disappointment.
One of the great things about Target is our fun, innovative advertising.
We’re always excited to hear about new ideas or concepts that might appeal to our guests.
However, we rely almost exclusively on our talented team members and hired consultants to
create and develop Target marketing. That’s why we can’t consider your idea.
Thanks for your interest in working with us, and best of luck.
Sincerely,
Pamela
Target Guest Relations
www.target.com
Target already lost me as a customer because of a crappy experience I’ve had with them recently and after reading a few other blog posts about moms who have had bad experiences with Target, I’m glad I’ve made the decision to no longer shop there.
The fact that they first snubbed bloggers and then when they did decide to enlist some Mom bloggers to help them in the PR department they went with these high-profile “famous” bloggers is laughable. Honestly, I prefer the WalMart 11 Moms. They are genuine people who really connect with their readers as opposed to these Target moms who somehow ended up on some kind of pedestal.
Target keeps trying to establish themselves as being above places like Wal Mart, first with these “celebrity” clothing lines and now hiring people like Dooce and Pioneer Woman. The problem with that is that whatever quality points they think they’ve racked up with this stuff are quickly lost by their shoddy customer service.
Well up their’s then!! PUNKS
I posted this on Twitter…Target is the backer of momversations and also christmas wrapped
http://christmaswrapped.com/
So they are doing somethings with Moms and mom bloggers at that.
Still think your letter could have been put better, but I do still love Target…sigh…
I wrote a very short paragraph introducing myself, my site and what we are about, a few sentences. Then i said that it would be a great idea for target to have amoms panel, much like walmart does, to help influence and speak wtih moms and that lots of mom bloggers would be interested, including myself, and i would love to assist in any way i could.
It wasnt really that long, maybe a couple short paragraphs total, if that. I did it in about 2 minutes.
Poorly written, for a start. I don’t think they meant to sound condescending, but they do.
And why couldn’t their marketing team “consider your idea” and why couldn’t you be a “hired consultant.”
Basically, “we can’t consider your idea…because we won’t.”
That was a little rude – they could have been a little nicer about it. I was ready to be a targetmom too!
HAHAHHA. I didn’t write kiss their asses to them, i wrote a very nice interest letter. But yes, I do believe large companies get a lot of ass kissing or things like the Motrin scandal wouldn’t have hit social media so hard. They need to represent a wider audience and not have “yes” men. It does seem smarter to have representation into all areas of targets they are trying to reach. Its nice to see walmart on the forefront of leading this.
Kudos to them.
“kiss their asses!” = Professional?
I think that’s why you got a form letter.
LOL it was probably a copy/paste email. I love your go-getter attitude!!
Did i get the bitchy CS rep? LOL
Brandie, that was very interesting.
So completely different then the response I got! I just blogged it so you could see it: http://journeyof1000stitches.blogspot.com/2008/12/target-moms.html
Also, I replied to their e-mail asking about the difference in responses we got! It will be very interesting to see if they reply back with that one!
oy.
Janine is right in that Target will/did go for the younger crowd with WOM marketing, and it bit them in the bahookie in a big way. In my opinion (which is worth what you pay for it.;) that’s why we won’t see a Target moms team anytime soon.
In 2007, Target ran a Facebook group called the Rounders, college aged influencers. This is the note Target’s SM team (an external agency, I forget the name right now) sent to Rounders members:
“Your Mission: Try not to let on in the Facebook group that you are a Rounder,”
“We love your enthusiasm for the Rounders, and I know it can be hard not to want to sing it from the mountaintops [and in the shower, and on the bus]. However, we want to get other members of the Facebook group excited about Target, too! And we don’t want the Rounders program to steal the show from the real star here: Target and Target’s rockin’ Facebook group. So keep it like a secret!”
Yeah. Ummmmmhmmmmm. Cause THAT’S transparent, Target. So one of the members (a marketing student, no less) went public with it and it was a little tempest (not Motrin worthy, but it still made them look skeevy) and that’s the last we heard of Target and SM. It’s sad, I do think they’re missing a big avenue of opportunity.
Trisha,
I just HAD to chime in. I would love to be a Target Mom too, believe me. A good portion of our income goes right to Target.
Anyway, I had to point you to the post I wrote on the Target billboard ordeal that happened earlier in the year. This is just a link to my post about it; but you have to click over to Shaping Youth’s blog and read about what happened there. Target made it clear back then that they “weren’t interested” in us bloggers.
Anyway, here is my link that link’s to Shaping Youth and the story about the Target billboard:
http://alwaysfashionablylate.com/2008/01/30/some-think-were-not-that-influential/
What’s been so innovative? Their marketing seems to be straight from mkt 101. Sounds like they aren’t open to non traditional thinking…What percentage of their daily shoppers are moms or for that matter just women? Missing the target here…