A blogger recently contacted Target in regards to her concern about a Target billboard in Times Square which featured a young girl, fully clothed but spread-eagle with Target's trademarked bullseye design in line with her crotch. A public relations person at Target responded to the complaint with "Unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets."
News spread over the blogging world about Amy Jussel, the founder of the blog and contacter to Target about the billboard, and Target's response to her complaint. It eventually blew up enough for The New York Times to feature an article about Target's lack of communication with new media. If you haven't seen the article Target tells a Blogger to Go Away, here it is http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/business/media/28target.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=media+relations+target&st=nyt&oref=slogin.
With the growth of the internet and new media outlets, you would think Target would recognize the importance and power of the blogging community. Company spokeswoman, Amy von Walter stated that "Target’s policy is to focus limited resources on the big media outlets, like television stations and newspapers, which reach large numbers of shoppers," but said Target is making small strides towards improving their relationship with new media outlets. Currently, Target is reviewing their policy of responding to traditional media only and may adjust it to encompass new media as well.
Other large retailers, such as Walmart, have been praised for their attempts to work with new media. Walmart's WalmartWatch.com was recently launched in order to keep up with customer complaints and see how customers feel about service and products. Many other large companies are expanding their Web sites to accomodate for bloggers and their opinions. Will Target be next?
-Mandy
News spread over the blogging world about Amy Jussel, the founder of the blog and contacter to Target about the billboard, and Target's response to her complaint. It eventually blew up enough for The New York Times to feature an article about Target's lack of communication with new media. If you haven't seen the article Target tells a Blogger to Go Away, here it is http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/business/media/28target.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=media+relations+target&st=nyt&oref=slogin.
With the growth of the internet and new media outlets, you would think Target would recognize the importance and power of the blogging community. Company spokeswoman, Amy von Walter stated that "Target’s policy is to focus limited resources on the big media outlets, like television stations and newspapers, which reach large numbers of shoppers," but said Target is making small strides towards improving their relationship with new media outlets. Currently, Target is reviewing their policy of responding to traditional media only and may adjust it to encompass new media as well.
Other large retailers, such as Walmart, have been praised for their attempts to work with new media. Walmart's WalmartWatch.com was recently launched in order to keep up with customer complaints and see how customers feel about service and products. Many other large companies are expanding their Web sites to accomodate for bloggers and their opinions. Will Target be next?
-Mandy
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