Black Friday: Survival of the Fittest
Today is one the busiest travel days there is. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and tomorrow night is Black Friday. I can appreciate a good deal as much as the next person, but I don’t care for Black Friday. I don’t like waiting in lines (period!), or being subjected to ridiculous crowds. I think the best novelty of it is the late night aspect. Anyway, I’m noticing that Target is running the most aggressive Black Friday campaign I’ve ever seen. “The 2 Day Sale” campaign is nothing new, but I don’t remember it being this intense. It could just be that I’m much more aware of ads than I was a year ago.
Target has positioned Black Friday as a sport where only the strong survive. There are so many spots for this campaign it feels political. The 2007 campaign was interesting in that it was called “The Race to the 2 Day Sale.” It was based around a stick man running through various scenarios to get to the store. It had a cool interactive game to go along with it. The spots are actually various parts of the race broken up. Someone was keen enough to capture it. Have a look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_kLL0jRoXU
Back to 2010! So now Target is using a stalkeresque spokeswoman. She’s completely obsessed with Target and the sale. It’s very much hyperbole, but there are people out there who make such preparations for Black Friday. To them it’s not a joke. There are rules and protocol. This campaign is a good way to poke fun at those folks all the while building anticipation.
This is by far the most clever of all the spots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfcowGLgImM
