right on, Target!

It's seems that Target (pronouced by some as "Tar-ZJAY") has been getting a lot of media attention lately. And rightfully so.

Target was the sole sponsor in the August 22nd issue of The New Yorker. A feat that has never happen in the magazine's 8o-year history. Interestingly, it's probably a store where many New Yorkers and most New Yorker readers haven't shopped.[There are only 5 (FIVE!) Target stores found in New York City: the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens. Manhattan and Staten Island are unTargeted (pun-intended), though there are 53 stores in the New York metro area (that's more like it).] Featuring the work of 21 illustrators , the only requirements were the use of the bull's eye, a New York theme and a limited Targetable (we're all about the puns today) palette of red, white, and black. The agency responsible: Peterson Milla Hooks, Minneapolis.

But they didn't stop there. No. Now they're into Live Ads. This is a relatively new medium, if you will. It's part theater, part circus, and a third of the cost of traditional advertising. But we're not just talking about live maniquins. These ads involve 12 story buildings, suspension cables, and a highly choreographed fly system team. Credit: John Merrifield creative director at TBWA.

Merrifield first started the idea of live ads with last years Summer Olympics. He promoted Adidas by hanging climbers from the sides of 33-story buildings in Tokyo and Hong Kong so they could race a vertical 100-meter sprint. The year before, he and his team hoisted two acrobats 12 stories above ground to play vertical soccer on giant Adidas billboards in downtown Tokyo and Osaka. Read more about it here.

It seems that just about anyone will do whatever it takes to target their targeted target audience. (I couldn't resist)