Target Intuits the Opportunity for A Wake Up Call

Have you seen what Target is doing with their Wake-up Call Promotion? They have intuited that there are significant numbers of people who love to jump start their holiday shopping by getting an early start to the stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Often stores open early to attract these customers. Target has found a great way to create an interactive marketing opportunity that drives traffic to it's website, creates a fun brand experience, and drives traffic to it's stores. The wake up call works like this. A customer registers on the Target website to receive a themed wake-up call on Friday or Saturday from one of five celebrity/character callers. Personally, I'd go with Darth Vader. At the designated time Target calls the number and delivers a recorded and branded message to the customer. The customer is reminded in a fun way of the Target brand right before they set out to go shopping. I bet Target is the first stop of the day.

The only downside I can see here is that Target isn't being very upfront about how they will use the names, email addresses and phone numbers they collect. Sure they say they will only use the numbers for wake up calls, they have their legalese and their privacy policy but two months from now will parents discover that the reason they're getting all of those telemarketing calls from Target is because their teenager signed up for a wake up call? Time will tell.

The point is that Target has found a way to further insert themselves into the lives of their customers in a fun and engaging way that does provide value(literally waking them up) for them.

How can your business find new ways to engage your customers and prospects right before their buying cycle?