Target Partners Up With Brands To Launch Mobile Games

By Anna Rose Welch, Editorial & Community Director, Advancing RNA

Company expects to launch six new mobile games this year to promote new products, customer engagement

Target is engaging customers with mobile games. The company’s Digital Vendor Marketing (DVM) team has been exploring the use of mobile games in order to connect consumers with the company and the brands and vendors it offers on its store shelves. The VP of Target.com, Dawn Block, says, “We’re really focused on creating great games for guests that are simple, yet challenging enough to make you want to play again and again.”

So far, the company has partnered up with several major brands, including Coca-Cola, M&M’s, Johnson & Johnson, and Purina. One of the first official games the company launched was the football party-themed game called “Snack Bowl.” This particular game appeared around the same time as last year’s Superbowl and featured many different brands, including Reese’s, Ritz Crackers, and Stride gum, among others.

The newest mobile game was created in collaboration with Nestle’s Purina PetCare Company, which recently launched a new dog treat now available at Target called “Beggin’ Party Poppers.” The game— “Pop It!” — allows users to interact with this new product and seeks to introduce customers to the new brand. To convert mobile game players into buyers, Target is offering mobile coupons for these new products, which consumers can redeem at the checkout.

While Target has not said which other companies it will be partnering up with to create new games, it hopes to launch 6 more mobile games for guests this year. The company and the brands see this as an important aspect of new product launches, events, or marketing campaigns.

Overall, Target has been working to amp up its digital channels as more shoppers are turning to online channels to complete their shopping. Back in December, the company announced that its digital platforms “continue to surpass internal projections and overall online industry growth rates,” and that its website experienced “two of the strongest days of sales in its history” on Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday shopping days. Target also saw online traffic grow at “double-digit rates” during the holidays, with mobile sales increasing by 100 percent compared to last year’s holiday season. Its website “Cartwheel,” which allows customers to earn savings and share information via Facebook about the deals they redeem, has also seen a great deal of success. Over the holidays, the company added one million users to the Cartwheel website, bringing the total number of users to 4 million since the program launched in May.

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