MIAMI \u2013 To reach its guests in the most effective ways, Target wants to create \u201ca different kind of video ecosystem.\u201d This requires lots of data\u2014a growing in-house capability of the retailer\u2014a better understanding of the context in which those guests consume media, plus being more nimble with creative versioning.<\/p>\n
Target Media Director Nick Jezarian was one of the keynote speakers at the recent Beet Retreat Miami 2017<\/a>. He shared his views on how Target envisions a more effective ecosystem, the company’s in-house data capabilities and the addressable television venture the company is pursing with its agency, Team Arrow, and NBCUniversal in response to questions from moderator Tracey Scheppach, CEO & Co-Founder of Matter More Media.<\/p>\n To collect and interpret data, Target has \u201ca big group of in-house developers and analysts\u201d but it\u2019s open to and supportive of collaboration with a variety of partners.<\/p>\n In Jezarian\u2019s <\/a>words: \u201cThe goal of what we\u2019re building is not to alienate or isolate Target from the rest of the marketplace. We\u2019re bringing it in-house because we\u2019re trying to thread together and make some more sense of the chaos that is in the marketplace right now. But we believe that\u2019s going to require a lot of deep partnerships and relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n He described the need for more than just a couple of creative executions for campaigns, which has been the norm in TV for a long time. The retailer\u2019s in-house unit, Target Creative Studio, complements its work with Team Arrow and other outside partners.<\/p>\n Creative \u201cis the number one thing that we\u2019re focused on\u201d and \u201cnot just letting an investment level or a production budget dictate how much content you\u2019re going to create,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we\u2019re actively trying to figure out how to become more nimble to create more content so that we can be more relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n Target hasn\u2019t prioritized research into over-the-top viewing versus linear TV, according to Jezarian. But given the prevalence of binge and marathon watching behaviors in OTT, \u201cActually we need to pay attention to that because that\u2019s where you can show up in a really tone-deaf way if you\u2019re not thinking about your content and your experience very well.\u201d<\/p>\n Team Arrow and NBCUniversal are partners with Target on addressable TV ads, an effort<\/a> that Jezarian describes as \u201cnot the entire end game\u201d but something that can help to inform creative and program choice decisions. \u201cIt\u2019s a place where content really matters\u201d while creating \u201csome resource challenges that you need to figure out as well to really go deep in that space and be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n