Challenge: While Target is a popular shopping destination, the majority of people only shop at Target a few times a year. We needed to get those who don’t shop at Target often, to shop at Target more.

Solution: A bored and distracted buyer is an impulse buyer.

Infrequent shoppers of Target prefer shopping at competitors, especially for routine things, like groceries. So, Target needed to win the unplanned purchase—the impulse buy. Impulsive behaviors tend to happen in a state of boredom because boredom diminishes the capacity for self-control. We worked with Maru/Blue to create a custom research survey to best understand which moments our audience felt the most bored and distracted during and where they went in those moments. (Yes, most people admitted to online shopping during work meetings.) We partnered with relevant publishers, like Buzzfeed and Refinery29, to concept content ideas that were episodic while also collaborating with our media planning team to prioritize shoppable tactics and a day-parting strategy informed by our research. Our content program exceeded publishers’ benchmarks and was renewed for a second flight.