Loving Target's Ads

Okay, full disclosure. I worked in Target’s communications department for nearly two years, so I might be a little biased. But if anybody watched the series finale of THE best TV show of all time – LOST – you probably saw a heavy ad rotation from the discount retailer.

To be honest, I haven’t loved their ads since “Hello Goodbuy” went away, but as a LOST freak, the spots they put together for last Sunday’s show were amazing. What was so great was that Target incorporated LOST elements in its ads that night to cleverly push a variety of products. Obviously, the show was watched primarily by millions of fans (or ex-fans). It may not have been on the level of Seinfeld or MASH, but die-hards were sure to identify with the humor of the commercials.

These days, Target is all about the “Pay Less” side of its “Expect More. Pay Less.” brand promise. Every ad, every direct mail piece, every circular  — everything heralds a low price point. The LOST ads were no different.

My favorite was a First Alert smoke detector to help protect against the Smoke Monster. Check out another good one below. For non-LOST fans, characters on the show had to enter a series of numbers into an old computer every 108 minutes to keep the island’s electromagnetism under control. It was a nice way to sell an inexpensive keyboard – it totally stood out, caught my attention and I even remember what they were selling. Pretty brilliant, in my opinion.