Comments on: Target PR misses the mark

By: Social Realist » Blog Buzz on PR: January 18, 2008

Social Realist » Blog Buzz on PR: January 18, 2008 — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:57:26 +0000

[...] Target PR Misses the Mark – Marketing Edge [...]

By: Target puts non-traditional media out of sight: missed opportunity or bullet dodged? « Diabloguer

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:41:47 +0000

[...] Marketing Edge discusses very effectively the many ways this response was bad PR; there’s no need for me to try to further polish this particular apple. [...]

By: Valeria Maltoni

Valeria Maltoni — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:25:13 +0000

What’s the organization’s culture? Does taking initiative get kudos or is it severely curtailed? Do lawyers rule? Peeling the onion that way may give us a glimpse at why the official PR response was so wooden. People really do want to talk and connect, they do.

By: Sally Hodge

Sally Hodge — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:13:46 +0000

Oh, ouch! Here’s a brand that’s getting kudos right and left for defining “masstige,” getting the customer experience right, and edgy marketing — yet its PR department lives up to all the negative stereotypes. Target’s PR folks apparently are like too many practitioners — they’re order takers who aren’t driving any strategic conversations on how new/social media needs to be factored into their outreach.

By: Michael Benidt

Michael Benidt — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:18:52 +0000

Easy answer here. Target should hire Albert. As my media training brother Bruce would say, “you can hire me now and we’ll avoid things like this – or you can hire me later to fight the fire.” If Albert Maruggi was leading Target’s PR – do you think they’d think bloggers and podcasters are irrelevant?

There are so many issues here – and so little time in a comment. Maryn McKenna wrote a post on the Poynter Institute’s blog that suggested Target will reconsider it’s approach to bloggers. Ya’ think?!! –
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=136013

We write a “young, self-important blog” and try not to throw tantrums. We do ask for interviews regularly from companies large and small. They have no reason whatsoever to spend time with us – from the standpoint of our reach or credentials. The amazing thing is that the majority of them say yes – even to “in-person” interviews. In just the past few months tons of companies and organizations like ZoomInfo.com, ReadyTalk.com, Creative Commons – and, yup, Albert Maruggi at Provident Partners, have taken their important company time for phone or in-person interviews with us. That actually is an amazing thing when you consider how new blogging is. We find very few Targets. Heck, maybe we’ll ask them for an interview.

By: Joanne Henry

Joanne Henry — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:19:05 +0000

Albert’s right. This blogger is a mom with 2 girls, business owner, weekly Target consumer and sometime Target business buyer. I now think Target must totally misunderstand their ‘target’ audience and that’s a surprise. At least their communications department doesn’t get it. Also surprising.

I remember writing a complaint letter to a Mpls bank holding company – now Wells Fargo — when it decided to rebrand and take down every WeatherBall on top local banks. They could have easily dismissed me as Target did the blog complaint. Instead, I got a letter with a personal explanation about the reasons and a cheerful -’hope you’ll stick with us anyway’ signed by the president of the bank holding company. Yes, I knew it was probably PR – but it was great PR and they kept me.

By: Blog Buzz on PR: January 18, 2008 : Naked PR

Blog Buzz on PR: January 18, 2008 : Naked PR — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:40:52 +0000

[...] Target PR Misses the Mark – Marketing Edge [...]