Article

CETW: Target exec hits the bullseye with CETWorld keynote

Christopher Borek detailed Target's 8-point strategy for connecting with shoppers.

November 9, 2010 by Christopher Hall — w, t

NEW YORK — "Christopher Borek ... Come on down!!!"

Christopher Borek of Target opened his keynote address at the Customer Engagement Technology World (CETW) show in New York City with a bang, showing a clip of the then 22-year-old Borek appearing on "The Price is Right" with Bob Barker.

Borek, the senior manager, interactive multichannel experience, for Target, and his talk, "Bull's-eye! Keeping Your Eye on the Target – Successful Strategies of Customer Engagement Technologies," were also a big hit with the CETW show crowd, artfully blending in Borek's engaging personality and a skillfully produced video and slide presentation that slickly displayed why Target has become such a ubiquitous lifestyle brand.

The keynote was so slick that, afterward, Alex Doumani, vice president, engineering, for Coinstar Inc., came onstage to make an announcement and started off by joking, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to Target this weekend."

Borek started his talk by actually defining "engagement" and "experience" and talking about how both bad experiences and good experiences can lead to the emotional involvement of engagement.

Bad engagement: Britney Spears and K-Fed.

Good engagement: the American Eagle Outfitters digital signage campaign in Times Square that lets shoppers post a picture of themselves and a message on the retailer's Times Square signage.

Borek provided eight customer engagement keys, giving concrete examples of each that Target has utilized:

Consider the environment
Challenge assumptions ... and evolve
Go where she is ... but don't stalk her
Listen and learn
Wow 'em!
Let her drive
Leverage that media
Collaborate + Stay true to your core

The first element, the environment, considered more the physical environment, but also the deployment of digital media in-store. In discussing No. 2, Borek talked about how Target adjusted to the worsening economy with its "Frugalista Campaign" (frugalista = frugal + fashionista) and its "Life's a Moving Target" campaign, both of which were aired on television and on Target's online portal and its Facebook page.

Then he started getting closer to the target. Point No. 3, "Go where she is ... but don't stalk her," focused on using mobile couponing, social media and digital technologies to engage the shopper where she is without being intrusive or annoying.

"Remember the days when we could push messages out and really bombard her? We really don't have that luxury anymore," he said.

Now Target works to engage its customers on their mobile and smart phones, on the iPad, on Facebook and on Twitter, he says, and is really concentrating on mobile. Target started a mobile coupon initiative in April that allows shoppers who opt-in to receive monthly coupons on their smart phones that can be scanned at the Target point-of-sale.

"We really call it 'bring your own kiosk,'" Borek said.

Target also is "this close away from launching our iPad application," Borek says. The company's strategy is to work cross-channel and to enable multiple devices to get information to the customer to help them shop, he says.

Point No. 4, "Listen and learn," means adjusting the media and the offerings according to customer feedback, which Target gets at least in part from its millions of Facebook "fans," Borek says.

"Think of Facebook as a live focus group," Borek said. "It's free research."

Point No. 5 was more about how Target uses different forms of media and events, streamed across multiple channels, to "Wow "em!" and create buzz; and No. 6, "Let her drive," was about how Target lets its customers customize some of the advertising content, say the weekly Target circular, to appeal more specifically to them.

Point No. 7, "Leverage that media," referred to the retailer's masterful use of media and pop culture to spread its brand identity, from "Lost"-centric advertisements during the cult show's final season to its partnership with the band Pearl Jam and mentions on TV shows like "Ellen," "Oprah" and the "Today" show.

Finally, point No. 8, "Collaborate + Stay true to your core," means to stay on message and true to the core value of the brand, while making the engagement process a collaborative one, Borek says.

"Leverage your partners," he said. "So you can all win."