Guest Post by Sarah Neely
Your most engaged customers are doing you a favor by showing up. They’re giving you their time, their attention, and their willingness to believe in your brand.
Target had 100 of these people lined up at every store on Black Friday. People who arrived at midnight. Who waited in the cold for hours. Who chose Target over every other retailer.
And Target gave them a trial-size shampoo and a deck of Uno cards. Ten lucky people (out of 100) received gift cards.
Do you understand what just happened here? I am legitimately angry that Target whiffed so badly.
Target had 100 FANS lined up at EVERY SINGLE STORE across the country. People who cared enough to sacrifice sleep and comfort. People who showed up. People who chose Target over every other retailer on the biggest shopping day of the year.
And Target handed them … samples.
This Is Marketing Malpractice. I am fuming!
Here’s what Target threw away:
Target had advocates ready to tell stories. These weren’t paid influencers. These were real customers with real networks who made a genuine effort to be there first.
Target had content waiting to be created. Every person in that line had a phone. They were already posting about waiting, about the anticipation, about the excitement. Target could have given them something worth sharing.
Target had a sentiment recovery moment. Target is still fighting boycotts. Still working to rebuild positive brand associations. They had 100 opportunities per store to create genuine, authentic, “Target did something amazing” stories.
Instead, they created 100 disappointed customers per store. People who will absolutely tell their story – I’m sure you’re hearing it, like I am – just not the one Target wanted.
What Word-of-Mouth Marketing Actually Requires
I’ve spent my career building brand awareness through authentic engagement. I’ve seen what happens when you respect your advocates and what happens when you don’t.
Here’s what Target should have understood:
The people who show up early are your most valuable customers. They’re not just shopping – they’re participating. They’re the ones who will tell everyone about their experience. The return on investment of treating them exceptionally isn’t measured in the cost of gifts; it’s measured in the stories they tell for months afterward.
Word of mouth is designed, not left to chance. You don’t get authentic advocacy by accident. You earn it by recognizing the moments that matter and showing up accordingly.
The bag itself was great. That reusable tote? That’s a walking storytelling prompt. People would have carried it. But you have to give them a reason to want to carry it – to feel proud of what it represents.
What Should Have Been Inside
For probably the same budget (or less), Target could have included:
- A significant gift card ($50-100) for everyone, not just 10 people
- Exclusive early access to future sales? A limited-edition brand collab? Early access to a new product? ONE premium, full-size product that showed thought and care?
- A handwritten thank-you, acknowledging their dedication
- Something to share, give to a friend, or allow the early shoppers to bestow fun on Target’s behalf
- A remarkable moment… anything that made people say, “You won’t believe what Target did!”
Every single one of those 100 people would have posted. Their friends would have wished they’d gotten up early, too. The FOMO would have been real. The positive sentiment would have spread. Instead, people are posting about their disappointment. About feeling misled. About trial-size products that belong in hotel bathrooms.
The Bigger Miss
This wasn’t just about one promotion. This was about understanding that your most engaged customers are gifting you their time, attention, and future story-sharing. They’re giving you their willingness to believe in your brand.
When you waste that opportunity with something half-hearted, you’re not just failing at one marketing activation. You’re teaching your customers that showing up for Target isn’t worth it.
And that lesson spreads… When one person has a sub-par experience, it doesn’t get shared widely. It’s not fun to be a Debbie Downer. But when hundreds of people experience a public disappointment? That gets shared. The people who got up at midnight will tell their story. The people who arrived at 3am will tell their story. And those stories will reach far more people than Target’s paid advertising ever could.
Too bad it won’t be the stories Target wanted told. This is exactly the kind of missed opportunity that gets me fired up. Not because I expect perfection from every brand, but because the path to getting this right was so clear. Target had everything they needed: the audience, the moment, the attention. They just needed to match the experience to the effort their customers made.
To any brand reading this: your advocates are giving you gifts when they show up. Make sure your response is worthy of what they’re offering you.
Sarah Neely is a word-of-mouth marketing strategist who has spent more than two decades building authentic brand experiences and consumer engagement for companies including Red Bull, Chipotle, and Polaris.
She’s created real-world brand activations that drive conversation, awareness and customer advocacy. Sarah has recently been exploring how experiential marketing strategies can help to build meaningful digital footprints in an AI-driven discovery landscape.
