Bullseye….Right On Target

We just received the target multi-page Christmas catalog. It’s thicker than the normal ad, actually a bound catalog style production, with amazing production values. It’s not quite Neiman Marcus caliber, but it’s so far above the normal mass merchant stuff that it immediately caught us off-guard. Perhaps this is done every year, but we’re new to the war, and we have a short attention span.

The book has a wonderful cover, in Christmas reds and greens, with a close-up of a stylized Christmas tree and ornaments. It looks very much like any modern-graphic Christmas card design. The tree has a perforated cut-out, in the center, that matches the outline of one of the ornaments. If you peel back the cutaway, it opens to reveal the words “Merry Christmas".


The Merry Christmas text is actually printed on the first page inside, in white holiday lettering, on a Christmas Red background. No other verbiage, not even the store name. Just, "Merry Christmas".

Here's a link, to the catalog on the Target website. It even allows you to "flip the page", so that you can see the Merry Christmas text. It doesn't show you the cutout, but you can see what we're talking about.

Simple, clean, and creatively to the point. That is what has separated Target from its larger discount retailer competitor. It’s also why Target appeals to a more desirable demographic, and has left Wal-Mart in the dust in many categories. Now, the ad is called “holiday catalog” on the website, which should have been corrected. The “War on Christmas” has many battles, and many fronts, we'll take the larger victory, and quibble with the weblink another season.

All we can say is that this effort is spot-on