Target to Blogger: You Don’t Count

Maybe there’s another reason behind Target Corporation’s disappointing financial results announced last week (TGT on the New York Stock Exchange in case you want to look it up).

In an article about their financial results, Ann Zimmerman at the Wall Street Journal wrote this:

Target yesterday reported its fiscal fourth-quarter profit dropped 8.1% from the year-earlier period, signaling a new stumble as shoppers snub its stylish but discretionary designer duds and homewares in favor of low-priced necessities.

Zimmerman’s commentary about the financial situation at Target said nothing about a firestorm of controversy that surrounded the company earlier this year.

Readers of this blog know how to search the News, Blogs and Videos for deeper and more precisely targeted information, so you can read about the controversy without our help. We will tell you, however, that the public relations department at Target told Amy Jussel, the executive director of Shaping Youth, to go take a hike.

You see, Amy happens to be a blogger. So when Amy voiced her concerns to Target about their possible advertising exploitation of young women they told her:

“Unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets.”

Have a nice day, Amy. Target’s fumbling response in handling her concerns helped to bring her a ton of additional publicity - and to bring Target a scolding from journalists and bloggers around the world.

In fact, the New York Times reported the story in Daniel Barbaro’s “Target Tells Blogger to Go Away.”

We’ll let you read some of our linked articles (and screen shots) and decide for yourself about the Target advertisement in question.

Our question - might there be a link between being a doofus and their financial performance? If Target can not stay on top of the shifts in the world of communication and media, might they also be falling behind in the world of fashion, product selection and customer service.

In fact, if you consider this story as a merely a customer service story (and not a jilted blogger story) Target’s lack of response is appalling.

That’s got to carry over into the rest of their business. If they are dismissive to Amy, they are likely dismissive to other customers. Bottom line, anyone?

Here’s the real story behind the story, though. Target is the exception when it comes to treating bloggers like dirt, not the rule.

We write a couple of small blogs that have an admittedly small audience. We regularly write and call companies to ask for interviews and more information. The majority of them not only respond, but willingly cooperate in helping us report the story to our readers.

In the past few weeks we’ve interviewed the folks at Creative Commons, Viewstream Video, ThoughtEquity and many others. These companies and organizations not only took their time, they often went further, providing us with extra material and networking us to other information.

Our experience shows that Target is out of step, and think about it. Might that mean they’re missing a few financial steps along the way?