New York Times, July 1, 2004 - Target Aims at Times Square

By STUART ELLIOTT
Published: July 1, 2004
www.newyorktimes.com

DISCOUNT retailer with a penchant for making assertive marketing statements in nontraditional ways is drawing a big red and white bull's-eye on Times Square.

That clue should reveal the retailer's identity: the Target division of the Target Corporation, which as its trademark uses - you guessed it - a target. (You were expecting maybe a roebuck?) Target is taking more than 23,000 square feet of ad space on nine signs on the exterior of the lower floors of the skyscraper at 7 Times Square, also known as Times Square Tower, which opened in April.

The deal, to be formally announced today, is estimated to be costing Target $750,000 to $1 million in rent alone, in addition to production and maintenance expenses. It may be the first time one marketer will face the millions who daily traverse the cacophonous "crossroads of the world" on so many signs perched on a single building.  Wachovia, which is leasing space on a sign far above the Target signs, between the 33rd and 37th floors of Times Square Tower, will remain there.

The deal is the latest effort by an advertiser to extend a brand beyond conventional marketing methods like television commercials, coupons and direct mail.

Target billboards with fiber optic illuminated "bulls eye" logos.

Target, in seeking to cultivate an image of cheap chic, has been a pioneer among retailers by experimenting with unusual promotional ploys. They have ranged from opening "pop-up stores" that temporarily rent sites in visible locations like Rockefeller Center to festooning telephone poles with posters about a "found" dog that turns out to be Bulls eye, the Target mascot.

"It's all about creating a wave of brand awareness to keep that 'buzz' alive," said Wendy Liebmann, president at WSL Strategic Retail, a consulting company in New York. "Traditional retailers do it where they live," she added, "but Target has a much bolder approach to getting the word out."

The deal was arranged by Van Wagner Communications, which specializes in outdoor advertising, on behalf of the owner of Times Square Tower, Boston Properties. Van Wagner worked with Target and Haworth Marketing and Media, a longtime Target agency Target also worked with another of its agencies, Peterson Milla Hooks.

Target is no stranger to Times Square. It leased a large sign - known in the parlance of the outdoor industry as a spectacular - at the northeast corner of 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, one block west of Times Square Tower. Target's lease on the Eighth Avenue sign, featuring bull's-eyes and a Lava Lamp, has expired and is not being renewed.

"We presented the idea to Target in December that instead of being one of many" advertisers on a building, as it is at Eighth Avenue, "it could be many on one building," said Scott Slater, out-of-home media specialist at Haworth, who described the nine signs, which together cover 23,234 square feet, as a "cityscape."

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