Kraft’s brand refresh, Kristen Wiig’s ‘Target lady’ comeback, and …

Hello 👋

Are you excited? Because it’s time for another edition of DTC Creator. 

Let’s not dwell and dive right in…

Target embraces Kristen Wiig

Kristen Wiig reprises her iconic SNL character; ‘Target Lady’ for Target’s latest Circle Week event campaign. 

The scoop:

• Target’s much anticipated Circle Week event will be taking place this week; from 7th April 2024 to 13th April 2024. 

• In an effort to promote the event, the brand engaged Kristen Wiig to once again play her iconic ‘Target Lady’ role. 

• Kristen Wiig previously played the crazy cashier ‘Target Lady’ on SNL, making the character not only nostalgic, but iconic. 

• Wiig is also set to return to SNL as its host on April 6th 2024, while the upgraded and improved Target Circle program will officially debut a day after, on April 7th 2024.  

The campaign

This is Target’s first campaign with a character feature, and this campaign aims to attract people towards their new Target Circle loyalty program.

Target circle now offers a paid membership (Target Circle 360) and Target Circle Card (formerly Target RedCard Credit Card).

Wiig mainly promotes Target Circle 360 in the campaign ad, a membership that now truly competes with Amazon Prime and Walmart+. 

Target has also mentioned that Wiig will be continuously featured in their marketing efforts beyond Circle Week. 

It’s not art. It’s Kraft. 

On April 3 2023, Kraft announced that they would be bringing all their spreads, dressings, and sauces under a single master brand: Kraft Sauces. 

Kraft sauces

As part of the new unified master brand ‘Kraft Sauces’ launch, the company also introduced Kraft Sauces’ first unified brand platform called; “It’s not art. It’s Kraft.”

The Kraft Sauces also brings in a packaging rebranding that features a more modernized Kraft logo and bolder packaging. 

The ideology behind “It’s not art. It’s Kraft.”:

A person doesn’t have to be a chef in order to create good food.

The campaign, created by Wieden+Kennedy, aims to combat the culture behind high cooking standards, and will debut on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok with videos that will take a shot against posh cooking cultures. 

Spotify’s new live experiences

Spotify has hosted live events for years, but this time, they’re upgrading their game, with new opportunities for sponsors. 

An abundance of opportunities

Live Experiences is Spotify’s latest product that allows brands to integrate and sponsor their events. For example, Spotify recently hosted a showcase based on their ‘Fresh Finds’ playlist that featured six new rising artists for two whole days.

Samsung sponsored the event, and also placed their products around the event venue and space so that audiences could interact and experience their latest range of smartphones. 

While events aren’t Spotify’s main revenue source and could potentially create conflicts, the brand says that they still recognise the importance of productization of their events, and plan to produce and host at least five to twenty live experiences this year.

They believe that these free to attend events will also give them, and their sponsors access to invaluable data collections. 

More marketing news

• Publicis New York hired a new Chief Creative Officer; Joe Mongognia from Grey New York. He will not only lead all of their creative efforts (including Pfizer), but he will also work with other Publicis Groupe agencies Digitas, Fallon, and Le Truc. 

• “The World Is Your Oyster” is a Canadian bank, CIBC’s, new campaign that promotes their Aventura card through an eye-catching short film. The film shows that adventures are endless through a series of events, each featuring the Aventura Card. 

• Barilla enlisted the help of White Lotus’ composer to create a special soundtrack for its Al Bronzo pasta series. The soundtrack was created to communicate the different feelings evoked when one tries the different kinds of pasta under the Al Bronzi series. 

• Just when the world thought hair colors couldn’t get anymore bizarre, Velveeta launched their latest hair yellow hair dye ‘Velveeta Gold’ that was donned by influencer and model Julia Fox. 

• An invisible shoe rack? Sounds revolutionary? Ikea thought so too … for April Fools’ Day. And they weren’t the only brands who thought that they would play pranks on their customers during 1st April 2024. 

• Game of Snacks: Frito Lay’s and Hasbro partnered in their latest campaign that has Frito-Lay snacks in a Hasbro-game-inspired world. The campaign also introduced limited edition multipacks that offer players a chance to win up a $1000 game chest. 

• Dockers is focusing on making Khakis cool amongst Generation Z and millennials. They plan to do this by creating better work apparel for younger professionals.

• The change in consumer spending habits is proving to be a big challenge for DTC-focused apparel companies like Nike, Canada Goose, and Levi, who are all aiming to go big this year. 

DTC news you can use

• Disney+’s new 30-second commercial (‘Hulu, Meet Disney+’) shows them meeting and befriending Hulu. 

• Chipotle is giving out free burritos worth $1M through Burrito Vault. 

• ‘Trust What You Create,’ is IBM’s latest campaign that warns against generative AI. 

• Dramamine’s ‘The Last Barf Bag’ campaign showcases the decline in “barf bags” in airlines. 

• Customers can now be targeted based on their spending habits, thanks to JP Morgan Chase. 

Top 3 advertising picks of the week

1. British Airways flips the switch in their latest ad across the UK that shows what people look like when they glance out plane windows, as opposed to the usual view of clouds.

2. Heinz is taking on Chicago (famous for not wanting ketchup on their hotdogs) by placing billboards that dispense ketchup packets right outside eateries that refuse to serve ketchup. 

3. Energy drink brand Lucky F*ck already has all the attention, thanks to their name. But now that they are rebranding their name to just “Lucky”, they’ve decided to announce the change through another controversial and eye-catching ad. 

And that’s a wrap!

Don’t forget to visit your Spotify playlists this weekend and wind down before the next DTC Creator.