Case Study: Target
PART 1 (pre-acquisition): In 2013, Target approached Lindsay and her company, Bump Club and Beyond, to create a test program which included events in stores in the Chicago and Minneapolis area. The goal of these events was to drive community, education surrounding the products and brands, and registry.
PART 2 (post-acquisition): Once Lindsay’s company was acquired, there was more opportunity and resource for this partnership. Target continued their relationship with Lindsay and her brand, only now it was at a much larger scale. While the goals were the same, Lindsay and her team were taking their partnership from 20 events in a year to 300 stores in ONE DAY, March 21, 2020.
As a result of the suspension of in-store events due to the pandemic, Target needed a new solution to deliver the planned Baby Registry 101 Events to reach parents and parents-to-be and drive baby registry enrollment. Lindsay insisted that her company could turn around the program, and maintain the traction and momentum for Target. There was no pause on pregnancy or parenting with the pandemic, making it more imperative than ever for Target to continue to reach this audience.
Lindsay’s Solution
PART 1: Starting in 2013, Lindsay and her team worked with Target, growing their partnership every year through 2018.
While the content changed, the concept stayed the same, driving expectant parents into the store through a series of live events with brand sponsors on-site. Each event included a live presentation by Lindsay’s team, followed by time to talk to and interact with the brands on-site.
Events were free and attendees had the opportunity to learn, sample and win amazing prizes.
The call-to-action always was for attendees to add items shown to their registries.
Lindsay and her team of six worked their way up to executing 20 events nationally in 2018. This was in addition to the other 100+ events that they executed every year.
PART 2: Lindsay quickly came up with the idea and pivoted her company to a virtual programming strategy in order to capture this target audience and offer an alternative to the in-store product evaluation that many expectant parents do in order to build their baby registries.
With the credibility and authenticity that only her company, Bump Club and Beyond, could provide, with her team they created a series of sixteen online events to drive education and ultimately conversion, prompting the audience to add sponsors’ products to their Target baby registries.
Sponsor Brands were able to address the company’s engaged online audience about their products, and had the option to address consumer questions and comments live to enhance the experience. Attendees were also given the opportunity to qualify for sponsor giveaways.
Deliverables:
PART 1:
YOY increase of events culminating with 20 in 2018, attended by 300-400 people.
3MM digital impressions yearly through digital promotion.
Much of the acquired data was proprietary to Target, however they continuously re-signed this program and grew it every year.
PART 2:
Nearly 50,000 video views of the live events during the initial activation (March-May 2020).
2MM digital impressions for the first activation. (3-4MM per activation later during the pandemic.)
Distributed 10,000 Bump Club and Beyond branded registry kits featuring sponsored products direct to the homes of our viewers.
Target loved this program so much, they renewed it for two more activations in 2020 and then again for three activations in 2021. This program is still ongoing at Bump Club and Beyond.
Key Takeaway
This program was a $120K revenue generator for Lindsay’s company prior to their acquisition. Her relationship with Target was instrumental to the acquisition itself. While there were no Target events during the first year under new ownership, in 2020 this became a seven-figure revenue generator and involved 20+ brands for sponsorship vs. only 8-10 prior to the acquisition.
Lindsay and her team grew this relationship year over year to become one of their tentpole programs offered to brands and sponsors throughout the year.
The Honest Company was a huge partner of the BCB at Target events (pre acquisition). This is Honest co-Founder, Jessica Alba’s mom, Cathy Alba, representing the brand.
Photo credit: TK Photography Chicago
In-store events often yielded traffic up to 400+ attendees in one evening. Lines of expectant parents wrapped throughout the stores.