Party For Good!!!

Helping out the community? That's one of Targets top priorities! 

Target hosted "Party for Good: Making Meals to Feed Young Minds" on June 29, 2010. The event was located at the NYC Food Bank at Basketball City (Pier 36 at South Street).Six days were utilized to get ready for this event. Target teamed up with the National Conference on Volunteering and Service along with The Food Bank for NYC to provide over 150,000 meals to families in need! More than 5,000 volunteers from the 2010 National Conference gave a helping hand and many celebrities such as Gavin DeGraw!

With a motto like making meals to feed young minds Target was able to gain the support of thousands through this event. A press release describing the nature and purpose of the event was sent out not only by Target but by both organizations it had teamed up with! Celebrities also promoted the event on their Facebook and Twitter pages. PR Newswire published the news release. The published news release found on sites such as PR Newswire, Forbes, and The Street could be tweeted and liked by Twitter and Facebook users, which helped the event gain more attention.

All this publicity made it possible to have enough helping hands to make enough meal kits for families of four to feed each family member for three days, with three meals each per day. Not only did Target team members come out for the event but celebrities did too!

By coming together to reduce the amount of hungry families in NYC, Target stands by their commitment to their communities! The food was supplied and packed by Target employees and other volunteers that attended the event. Drinks and sanitation needs were provided by Coke and Proctor & Gamble. It just goes to show you that people will and do come together for a good cause! In this case it was to help feed the starving families of NYC.

Donating to The Food Bank of New York City is just one way that Target gives back to the community. Party For Good was part of their Meals for Minds project that started last May that actually gave schools food to help out students in need! By providing and donating food to schools hunger will be reduced and students will have a better chance at exceeding academically.

Party for Good  provided an atmosphere where people were able to have fun by giving back to their community. A free buffet was provided by Target, open bar, and music! Even the entrance to the event was modeled as if you were walking into an event such as the MTV Awards, complete with red carpet and camera crews! Target is known as one of the largest corporate philanthropists and they love to give back! This event was a perfect way to give back to the community and involve others to help out too! The ending results were fantastic!

Their goal of meals was met and over 5,000 people came and contributed. What more could Target have asked for? By working with volunteers from the National Conference on Volunteering and Service and the Food Bank of NYC, Target was able to promote the event to get enough press at the event and enough people too! By working with other programs Target was able to use their own team members but others too. Celebrities who take time to volunteer also came out to support the event. American Idol star Katharine McPhee's performance was a hit that night.

The only thing that I personally would have done differently for this event was allow outsiders to help out. Instead of just opening the event to members of each organization and celebrity volunteers I would have allowed for the residents of NYC to contribute too. Target should have tweeted the event and posted a status on Facebook stating that people could donate money to the event to help out NYC families in need.

Yet Target was able to communicate with other organizations to plan an event that helped families across NYC! With great employee communication, their previous efforts of giving back to the community, and their pitch line was able to hook and string in enough support! Targets news release was sent out and published online by many media outlets. Celebrities even tweeted they were coming to the event which helped bring in more! Timeliness is key and the story was published the morning of the event on many different PR sites. Along with extensive planning beforehand to ensure a great event.

Overall Targets Party for Good event was a success!

Targets on Facebook?!

Have you been on Facebook today? I’m sure you logged in either from your BlackBerry or IPhone at least once this morning on your way to work and again on your lunch break. Am I right?

I bet if you’re a fan of Target you know they have a Facebook page along with a Twitter account! Therefore you’re well aware that they tweet and update their status hourly to benefit their customers! 

We live in a world of electronics and the best way to reach us is through the social media! Target uses Facebook and Twitter to get in touch with their customers. Any sale, special, new item, or special event is tweeted and updated immediately online. Currently Target’s Twitter account has over 35,000 followers. If that’s not a lot, Facebook users have pressed the Like button over 1,783,179 times! That’s almost over 2 million people! Comments can be posted on Target’s Facebook page and other users can comment back and suggest their friends to Like Target too! Twitter allows you to retweet and receive Target tweets right on your mobile phone. You’ll never miss a sale!

So you know that little thing plastic card in your wallet that you hand to the cashier for everything? Well, Target developed a new idea that doesn’t involve any actual card. Instead customers can use Target Mobile Gift Cards that allows them to scan barcodes from their cell phones in the store. As if that’s not tech savy enough, they also have Facebook Credits that allows Facebook users to purchase virtual items for all the games they love to play. Including favorites like FarmVille and Mafia Wars.

Did you know that you can actually shop Target from your phone!? Target mobile and Target IPhone allows you to shop directly from your cell phones. With the IPhone you can download the free Target App. You can also sign up for text and email alerts online or in stores where you can receive weekly updates of ads, coupons, and great deals. Not only can you shop from your phone but you can also access Targets YouTube page! From here you can be directed to Target.com or a store locater. Or you can watch numerous videos from what’s hot to what’s not and all those Target commercials you love!

Targets PR personnel know that social media is a key component in reaching their customers. It’s a way to share information quickly and effectively. They are able to build brands, network, share information, and look after customer service online. Targets own website has links to their Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts; along with a link to their RSS feeds. Customers can ask questions and search their pressroom online by searching just one key word. On the Target website alone you can shop, find a store near you, contact a representative, and even watch clips of how committed they are to the communities they serve!

New media efforts are also used which include podcasts and webisodes.Target teamed up with ConverseTarget teamed up with Converse to produce a webisode featured in 2008-2009. 

According to the looks of it Target is doing a fabulous job using new media. Everything is available to their customers with the click of a mouse or the touch of a button. From phones to laptops people can access all the information they want and need from Target. Customer service isn’t just available in stores anymore, it’s online too! Commercials can be watched over and over again on YouTube and sales/coupons aren’t just found in magazines. Updating customers daily with tweets only benefits sales. You can even download the Target logo as a screensaver or background to your phone.

What else could Target do to get their consumers attention? I personally think that they are doing a great job! But maybe to get more followers on social media accounts they should tell customers to visit and follow them at the bottom of each receipt at check-out.

So who’s going to Target today? 

Target In The Public Relations World!

TARGET! With a motto like: Expect More. Pay Less, who doesn’t shop at Target?! Target has everything from electronics to home goods, including groceries. Target wants to make their customers feel at home when they walk through the doors and with a corporate responsibility “Here for Good” that’s exactly what they do!

Out of all the Fortune 500 companies to choose from, Target seemed the best fit for my blog. I shop at Target because the staff is friendly, I love to watch their commercials, their advertisements are eye catching, they have various products and brands for the perfect price, and they do a lot for various communities. Target has built a corporation that not only sells products but helps out communities in the process.

Following ethical business practices, getting support from communities, and giving back to communities makes Target the thriving company it is. As a corporation Target focuses on diversity, social, environmental, and economic responsibilities.

Since it is Hispanic Heritage Month, Target has created a campaign: Dare. Dream. Do. Diversity is a large part of Targets core values. Team members come from all different backgrounds and many of their vendors and suppliers are minority groups. They have many diverse partners including United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and The United Negro College Fund.

As a team Target promotes health and wellness in communities. Good health promotes a better life. Inside each store there are over 700 organic food selections to choose from. Five percent of Targets income goes to education, volunteer work, the arts, and other services ($3 Million Weekly). Not only do they want to help the community by giving back, but they also founded the Alliance to Make US Healthiest. This helps to promote a better lifestyle inside communities. Not only does Target support health and wellness but also education.

In 2009 Target donated 400,000 books to local schools. They also teamed up with the Salvation Army to create a better learning experience inside schools through renovating their libraries. Since 2003 Target has sponsored Read-Across America In-Store Readings where over 3 million people have attended.

Target not only wants to help educate communities but make sure they are safe! Target and BLUE is a partnership with the law enforcement. Target has partnered with the law in order to make sure that communities are safe. They sponsor events such as Shop with a Cop that was hosted in over 35 stores. Children feel safe next to a police officer, so why not shop with one?

Being environmentally friendly is also important! LED lights have been placed in all new stores and Target has been taking giant steps towards reducing their carbon usage; along with saving water by using low flow faucets inside their stores.

Overall Target as a corporation has created a persona for their company based on trust not only inside the walls of their business but outside in the community. Promoting safe communities, healthy lifestyles, safe environments, and education Target is making their reputation a distinguished one, for all the right reasons!

By communicating through billboards, Facebook, Twitter, magazine advertisements, and television advertisements, along with their extensive internet site, Target is able to reach all different audiences in various demographics. From the looks of it whatever their doing seems to be working since they have be recognized for various awards including: Number 40 in DiversityInc.’s “Top 50 Companies for Diversity” and Fortune ranked Target as number 22 in “World’s Most Admired Companies”.

With their internet site being very customer friendly, various ages can easily access their site and see everything that Target has been doing from today to years ago. You can even see what new stores have opened up around the USA including stores located in Alaska and Hawaii. The site itself even has a pressroom where all press releases can be searched and located. With the most recent stories on the pressroom homepage, users have easy access to all breaking news in the Target world.

Target even has a YouTube  account! People can subscribe to, comment, and watch various videos featuring target products and efforts in various communities. As a company Target works for their spot in the world. They want to be recognized for doing good in the community, they want to be a part of the community.

Target isn’t just a store, it’s a committed corporation willing to do everything it can to help! Targets reputation is a great one! With competitors like Wal-Mart, Target has to keep their prices right, and they do. Public relations experts who manage Targets reputation should look to Twitter and Facebook to see what the consumers are thinking. Seeing how many hits and likes Target gets could show where the store needs improving and where it’s doing well. Target shows their positive reputation through all their philanthropy and community efforts. Target has mainly a good reputation and any negative feedback given from consumers is addressed right away. Press releases or Tweets are ways to address negativity and bring about a positive message.