Business and Blogging

Is Your Web 2.0 Strategy On Target?

by Liz Fuller on February 4th, 2008

Recently, Susan Gunelius on BrandCurve wrote a post about Target stores dismissing a query from a blogger who objected to their latest ad campaign.  It seems that the blogger thought the ad, which showed a woman lying spread-eagle across the bulls-eye logo was offensive and misogynistic. Instead of responding to her comment, a representative from Target dismissed her by saying,  “unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with non-traditional media outlets. This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest.”

This blogger was not just any interested consumer, she was Amy Jussel, founder of Shaping Youth - a nonprofit concerned with media & marketing’s impact on kids.  According to their bio “they have no political, religious or censorship agenda. Their focus is to shift harmful messages in a more positive direction with the help of industry insiders.”

When the NYTimes got involved in the situation, it quickly became a PR nightmare. Target was publicy slammed for having questionable advertising practices and elitist public relations policies.  And of course, the story was picked up and repeated thoughout the blogosphere.

This is not just a story about an upset customer or an offended blogger.  This is a story of two corporations - one non-profit and one public, and their strategies concerning web 2.0.

Shaping Youth is a small, grass-roots organization - that has a blog.

Target is #33 in the Fortune 50 - with $59 Billion in revenue - but no blog.

As the story spun out of control last week, Amy was at least able to post her side of the story, respond to comments and publish her interview with the NYTimes in its entirety.  She was able to communicate with readers and point them to other articles of interest that helped make her original point, which was about much more than a single ad.

Target on the other hand took traditional methods - reacting to the questions from the press, issuing announcements that  it would review its media policies, and then…..clamming up and waiting for it to go away.

When I first read Susan’s article, I naively commented that Target would certainly change their policy after getting bad press from the NYTimes.  I assumed they were simply unaware of the influence that bloggers have on their target market - that many bloggers are in fact, their target market, or as they term it “their core guest”. 

But I was mistaken.

With a little research, I discovered that Target was well aware of the blogosphere and the potential influence of bloggers.  In fact almost three years ago, representatives from Target met with Robert Scoble to find out more about social media. They wanted to know whether they should blog and how they should create relationships with bloggers.

Scoble posted questions on his blogs and got good advice from multiple prominent bloggers, some with PR and marketing backgrounds.  And yet,  several years later - Target doesn’t have a blog, and apparently doesn’t have a strategy for monitoring and managing the influence of millions of bloggers.

So what lesson should you take from this case study to apply to your own business?

Clearly, I’m not saying you need a blog in order to survive in today’s PR environment.

But, I am saying you need a Marketing strategy. You need a PR strategy. You need a Crisis Communication strategy. And you need those strategies to include the many facets of Web 2.0.  

The world of media is changing. Take the time to research it, understand it, and listen to it. And then devise your strategy…

If you don’t, you might just as well be walking around with a giant bulls-eye on your back.

photo by hans s

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POSTED IN: Corporate, Non-profits, Public Relations