Shownotes
This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment examines Target's new shoppable Bravo digital series and what it says about the growing convergence of entertainment, media, and commerce.
Chris Walton and Ben Miller discuss whether retailers are increasingly competing with streaming platforms, creators, and social media companies for consumer attention, and why discovery continues to evolve beyond traditional advertising.
The conversation also explores Target's brand strategy, merchandising challenges, and whether shoppable entertainment can become a meaningful driver of customer engagement.
⏩ Tune in for the full episode here: https://youtu.be/toy5NmyXau4
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Transcripts
Target is to sponsor a first of a kind shoppable Bravo digital series.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:According to Chainsaw Age, Target will be the exclusive retail sponsor of a digital series inspired by the format of Bravo's popular show Watch what Happens live with Andy Cohen.
Speaker A:The series, titled Shop what Happens is a weekly summer theme series that brings together some of Bravo's best known figures for conversations, games and cultural commentary spanning fashion, entertainment, beauty, travel, swim and seasonal trends.
Speaker A:QR codes will enable seamless shopping directly from Peacock on living room devices, while Text to Shop and Click to Shop functionality will allow fans to instantly shop the featured Target items they see across the PeaceRock mobile app, YouTube, tick tock and Instagram.
Speaker A:So, Chris, this is also the A. M. Put you on the spot question.
Speaker A:It's one for you this week and here it is.
Speaker A:Okay, if entertainment and shopping keep merging, are retailers eventually competing less with each other and more with Netflix, Tick Tock and creators for attention?
Speaker A:And what's the future scenario?
Speaker A:That sounded ridiculous yesterday.
Speaker A:Like that probably did.
Speaker A:That could feel plausible tomorrow.
Speaker B:Why, why do I always, first of all, why do I always get these questions in the least opportune time for me?
Speaker B:I'm like 36 hours after a stomach bug and I got to answer this question.
Speaker B:Oh my God.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:But I do love the question because it's prediction.
Speaker B:It's basically asking me to put my prediction hat on, which I absolutely love.
Speaker B:That's always a fun thing to do.
Speaker B:And I'm guessing, Ben, that on this new, this new show, this new Bravo series, there won't be a lot of replica tight fitting English jerseys that are being showcased on said program.
Speaker B:At least, at least, let's hope not for the sake of fashion.
Speaker B:But, but, but before I get to the headline, the other thing I do have to say is I think between this headline and we can go into this too, if, you know, depending on where the discussion takes us.
Speaker B:But between this headline, because I don't think this headline is that cool.
Speaker B:I think it's kind of like, okay, yeah, not surprised you're doing this.
Speaker B:The first of its kind is a little bit pitchy in some ways.
Speaker B:And the fact that they just, the target just went back to the Isaac Mizrahi well, tells me that there is no clearer sign of a company needing a new chief marketing officer.
Speaker B:Not even a new one needing to place one.
Speaker B:They haven't had one for a considerable amount of time than Target.
Speaker B:Like they're desperately in need of that.
Speaker B:Because I just, I can't get my head around, you know, promoting this Move.
Speaker B: ow, that last popular back in: Speaker B:But with that said, I just had to get that off my chest.
Speaker B:Ben I think, you know, I think, I think this, this, this is, I don't see this idea in terms of what A and M is talking about.
Speaker B:I don't see, when I step back from everything, I don't see what's going on here at an industry wide level as revolutionary.
Speaker B:I see it all as just a new form of television and where we as consumers get advertising.
Speaker B:Retailers, retailers have always competed for attention.
Speaker B:That's not new and that's kind of stated in the A and M Put yout on the Spot question.
Speaker B:So, but like it's not new and is the competition any greater than it was in the days of cbs, abc, NBC, even the BBC where you're from?
Speaker B:Ben I, I doubt it.
Speaker B:And it's, it's probably even less competitive if you think about it.
Speaker B:So where the money is going to be made is in who can control or who can acquire both, both the distribution and the product.
Speaker B:So we already know Amazon has this right.
Speaker B:Amazon has a leg up.
Speaker B:Walmart bought Vizio.
Speaker B:Why Target?
Speaker B:Just to go back to this, since Target's the headline, why they didn't never lever up and buy TikTok or even make a play for TikTok publicly is, is beyond me just to even get some cache for the brand.
Speaker B:But you know, to me, if I had to step back and think about what's out there that I'm not seeing around the Corner, I think YouTube, YouTube seems like the platform with all the AI enhancements that Google's putting towards things with additional partnerships that could come into play to unlock something new and interesting.
Speaker B:Like my brain got thinking about this like, you know, or is getting thinking about this like, you know, is there an exclusive distribution partner for YouTube, you know, so you can have the confidence in getting the products you want on time with the return policies that you want.
Speaker B:I mean those are the ideas that I think haven't been explored yet.
Speaker B:Where commerce and you know, media attention capture start coming together.
Speaker B:That's the best way I can answer this question at this point in time.
Speaker B:But what do you think?
Speaker B:I'm curious, where does your head go in answering the A and M put you on the spot question this week?
Speaker A:Ben yeah, I love the fact we're talking about it this week because it feels a bit like a primer ahead of can and the Festival of Creativity next week.
Speaker A:So you know our news feeds, our in our LinkedIn is going to be full of announcements from Cat and and I think that's becoming increasingly the place where advertisers and creatives meet.
Speaker A:Just today I was reading that Alberton's Media creative have been working with P and G to to look at kind of shortfall entertainment that is then I mean it doesn't sound hugely different to Walmart's Add to Heart and you know that died a pretty quick death so but they're going to bring down to the in store environment and they're working with a brand so I think, I think we're going to look.
Speaker A:We're going to see a whole stream of these sorts of news over the next 7, 10, 14 days and they're really hard to judge creatives if you haven't actually seen the output because trying to describe a creative idea on paper you don't quite know.
Speaker A:I think the difference here is for this, this new initiative from Target you can see what it is the first, the first episode is live.
Speaker A:So I watched that as well this afternoon.
Speaker A:So the first realization I really quickly came to was I am not its target market.
Speaker B:Chris Right.
Speaker B:Without a doubt.
Speaker A:No it really wasn't the Starbucks analyst presentation I can assure you of that.
Speaker A:I wanted to be intrigued and to like it.
Speaker A:It was, it was sort of like the ghost of QVC meets reality tv.
Speaker A:It wasn't great but then I'm not the shopper.
Speaker A:It was celebrity content with a few and would you like to buy this fitted in so it didn't have the shop the look of something like, you know, like to know it which is really established you can, you can buy from your favorite creators or influencers there it was much more promoting the Bravo celebrities and their series as with a few products thrown in.
Speaker A:So you know look, I didn't love it as a piece of creative and I think it is much more takes me back to the conversation where you started on Target and I think for me when I look at Target I look at three things that I think they should be working on.
Speaker A:Number one is the install standards, the supply chain to drive the availability and the team being motivated behind it.
Speaker A:And that's the first one to give Fidelkin the team some credit.
Speaker A:We've seen improvements on that over the last six years months and the latest results show you know a ways to go.
Speaker A:But, but we've seen some stuff the second bit and that's you to talk towards that is, is the merchants is the merchandising is these exciting products that you want coming in.
Speaker A:And I think there's some ways to go on that.
Speaker A:And then the third is brand and storytelling.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And this is where, if you look at what Richard Dixon has done with Gap, you got the excitement back into that brand through fantastic creative, through.
Speaker A:Through great use of media and entertainment, and through telling stories.
Speaker A:And when Target said it's best, it does the same.
Speaker A:And this activation is not that.
Speaker A:And I would much rather see them investing in building that cache for the brand again.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's really great to hear you say that.
Speaker B:And I'm kind of fortuitous that I luckily had you on the show this week, too, because, like, you know, it's interesting to hear someone aligned with, you know, the thinking around Target, particularly on the branding side, because, yeah, when I listen to you describe the experience to me with the merchant hat, that sounds.
Speaker B: rah's Favorite things back in: Speaker B:It's a really hard way to make money consistently over time because people will get bored of being pitched to with that type of.
Speaker B:With that type of theater, as you described it to me, Ben.
Speaker B:And so that's why I think, like, you've got to work harder, like you could.
Speaker B:And this isn't cheap.
Speaker B:I got to think doing a program like this is not cheap.
Speaker B:You're probably better off giving more incentives to the average influencer to just come into your store and promote your products.
Speaker B:But that starts with having great products on your shelves that you want to promote and then making it easier for people to buy them at the end of the day through a very seamless inspiration, discover process to buy process, too, which is also something Target, you know, needs to work on.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:So, yeah, so I think that's.
Speaker B:I. I 100% agree with you, and I thought you articulated that one really well.