I need to lodge a consumer complaint.
Target, what the heck are you doing? This is what you call branding? Or store marketing? Or is this what you call, give your customer a freaking headache?
Am I the only person that finds Target’s new packaging for their Up&Up product line a complete failure? If I would have handed in one of these graphics in my packaging class way back in the day when I wanted to be an Industrial Designer my professor would have laughed in my face and then told me NO, try again!
In the photo above you might be led to believe that you are looking at baby products. Why? Because of the naked baby on the wipes box. But in fact you are also looking at cough drops, sunscreen, reusable food containers and yes, baby formula. The arrow? Not helpful. The font, what font? Why don’t they just put everything in a white box and have us guess what’s inside, oh wait….they did.
Goodnes, grascious , great balls of dookey, this is an epic marketing failure if I’ve ever seen one and why didn’t they realize it? Why? What am I missing? Is it just me? Maybe it is. Okay, never mind then.
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I think they’re going for that streamlined, scandanavian IKEA look or something. They missed the boat a bit I’d say.
Have you been hanging out with my Fiance? LOL
I wondered if Sam had anything to say about this or Walmart’s new packaging. Lordy, what are they trying to do? Ikea they are not.
I couldn’t agree more.
I hate it!!!
More then once I have just absentmindedly grabbed what I thought was what I wanted only to arrive home pissed as hell that it wasn’t
It’s UGLY, Too Plain, Misleading, BLECH!! (technical term).
I say we wage a war…yeah
e’ll put all these products in the middle of the store and light a bon fire….dancing around chanting “HEY HEY HO HO THESE UGLY BOXES HAVE GOT TO GO….”
Or we could just email HQ, and let them know …
It’s 6 and 1/2 dozed of the other ya know
Seriously, my marketing education only goes so far as an award winning (that’s right–I said it) high school journalism career, but even I can see this is a huge flop! What the heck is wrong with these people!?
Ooh! Ooh! After you get a bunch of these comments gathered e-mail headquarters with the link and WE’LL SHOW THEM!
looks like industrial brand whatevers…..
I totally agree with you. I got a book of coupons from Target right after they changed to this new ‘look’, I couldn’t figure out what the coupons were for for the longest time. Finally I figured them out and clipped the ones I’d use, but it was so damn hard to figure them all out again at the check out. It is a failure in their marketing. I don’t understand what was wrong with their previous packaging.
Well, I can’t say I noticed before this, probably because that’s not the sort of thing I shop for at Target. It is pretty stupid packaging, though. I feel like the arrow is pointing to the baby’s butt and saying, “See? The wipes go here.” It looks that way for the food containers, too. I feel like the packaging is talking down to me looking at those two. Then we come to the green lamb or whatever the heck that is on the formula and I’m just confused. I can’t see the other two items. Do the cough drops have an arrow pointing toward a mouth?
I was gonna say pretty much what Amy J said. The first thing i thought when i saw the ad was that Target was bought out by some Swedish company. Then i found out, no! It was all them.
eeww.
April,
You are completely, totally, and absolutely correct!
I did a Target run two weeks ago. Yes, it was 9 p.m., after a long meeting, and raining to boot: i.e. I was not in prime form. I thought I was going to lose my mind as well as my eyeballs!!!!!
I was trying to stock up on basic Target brand vitamins, cough syrup, acetaminophen, enteric aspirin, listerine, etc. (Husband was home with bad cold, what if we got the flu?, etc.)
The fact that the store had just been expanded and all the departments had been moved around (aggravating enough!)only exacerbated the situation.
I did complain to the cashier, and showed the lady in line behind me the acetaminophen box: “Can you tell what this product is?” I never did find the cheapest, round white tablets. Had to settle for the “caplets.”
Thanks for letting me RANT!
p.j.
Ugh, I hate their new packaging!
I like it. Precisely because it does look modern and european.
Ditto! Here I thought I was the only one put off by the packaging of this new brand. Hate it!
I agree completely. I even through my coupons away because I didn’t want to look through and figure them out. I’m glad I’m not the only one.
T
Oops, I threw my coupons away.
i completely agree!
I like the white packaging – it’s simple and fresh and minimalistic. But I don’t really like the arrow: it bothers me on a level that I’d rather not go. I say keep the white but bring back the Bullseye.
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/bulls_eye_flies_up_and_up_up.php
I agree. I don’t buy them on principle.
So true. Very poor all the way around. Aren’t they supposed to make it EASY for us to spend our money in their store? They blew it.
I got their coupons in the mail and it was so hard to read I threw it away.
ME TOO!! I got their packet of coupons in the mail, took one look at them, and recycled them! I don’t want to spend a half hour trying to decide what the product is.
Whose idea was this??
Huh, it never really bothered me. I thought it was kinda ugly and didn’t “get” the arrow, but I can’t say I really gave it a second thought. I haven’t had any trouble finding the same old same old products…but then maybe that’s because I’m a creature of habit and they’re all in the same location on the shelves as the old ones.
Haven’t been in Target lately (the closest is an hour away) but those look awful….reallly a bad idea…
April, after much searching, I found the right email address for all of us to send a stern letter to headquarters regarding this mess.
http://www.target.com/gp/help/display-contact-us-form.html?displayLink=tci
I am going to have to agree with you on this one. When I get their little coupon book for this stuff, my eyes glaze over. I love Target with a deep and enduring love, but this stuff has got to go.
I could not agree more, in fact when I opened up the mailer the other day I couldn’t even read it, it hurt my eyes. As I exclaimed about the crappy advertisement/coupons my lovely 16 year old noted that they were marketing to a much younger crowd so that is why I wouldn’t understand it. I threw her out with the advertisements.
We don’t have a Target close, so I can’t shop there like I’d like to. I have to plan it and I’m sorry at that. I agree with you.
I DO like WalMart’s Great Value brand being all in white boxes now. That way I can steer clear of it. Obnoxious.
I hate it. Walmart has done the same stupid thing! More reason to shop local I guess.
I completely agree! I was in Target last week, and I just can’t stand those arrows and the Up Up !! ick
I find the “up and up” brand hilarious when looking at a box of tampons.
It bothers me too. It stinks. I think they’re just trying to be ‘minimalist Green thinkers’ and they are really just, well, irritaing. Causing us headaches, wasted moments trying to guess what’s in the box, and wasted resources when we come back to return the item.
I like Scandanavian lines. But this is not that. This is advertising FAIL.
But, and here’ is what they have yet to discover, Good brand recognition has to do with pleasing, engaging marketing – I’ll pretty much much try (read: buy) anything with a catchy label.
April, forward our comments on to Target. Then send them a Marketing Consultant invoice.
Walmart’s too!!! YUCK! I cannot tell you how much EXTRA time I am spending just trying to locate my usual items….Wait–that’s it–they want you to take more time–that way you spend more time seeing the other stuff and perhaps you will buy something that you may not have otherwise…. Just a thought. It may be a conspiracy—after all isn’t everything?!
I usually rejoice at a booklet of Target coupons coming my way, but the last one was for their Up and Up line, and I nearly lost my mind trying to figure out what in the world the coupon was for. I threw the whole thing away. Aack!
I noticed that about Walmart’s packaging, too. Ick. My theory is that they’re trying to make it look “cheap”. Prices are rising, and they’re hoping that you won’t notice because you’ll grab the “cheap-looking” box and feel good that you’re “comparison-shopping” so well and getting really “great” deals.
I don’t shop at Target, largely because there are much closer stores that sell the same things. I’m going to agree with you that the packaging is ugly, though.
Yes!!! I wholeheartedly agree! I love Target, but this time they are clueless. Totally clueless. Their new branding looks weird. They need to change it.
I completely agree! I received a booklet of coupons this weekend and was confused! I had a serious headache by the time I was able to figure out what was what. They need to fire whoever came up with this idea!!
I find the “Up & Up” label stupid. (And ’round here that’s a bad word. The “s” word.) Or maybe it’s just me. I understand the Bullseye for Target, but why change to “Up & Up” ?? I don’t associate it with Target.
I do all my drugstore shopping with Target and I absolutely HATE the Up & Ups concept. HATE! I half-jokingly think it’s called that becaue that’s where their prices will start going…only *half*.
Now I have to memorize what color is used on the white branding for the products I use. Baby wipes=blue; diapers=gold; pads=pink; medicine=pink; flushable wipes= gold…..oh no, there’s a pattern here. The day I mix those up, I’ll be in big trouble!
It is a little IKEA-ish. Like they didn’t want to have to do stuff in different languages so they just put a picture of a naked baby?
Couldn’t agree more, I also hate the new Wal-Mart “look”.
Inga
Seizure-inducing.
And it raises my blood pressure.
I like Target ok (better than Wal-fart!), but also think they totally screwed up with this new look. It looks cheap and ugly. Did they not ask for any opinions on this one before they jumped into it? Yikes!
It made me cringe the first time I saw it too. And what does “up & up” have to do with Target or the bullseye? If they want to give the “money-saving” generic look, how about white package, *large* bold lettering, and a bullseye?
I agree it is a loser!
You should have seen me in the house cleaning aisle the other day. I was looking for the Target brand equivalent of Windex wipes. It took me three passes before I found them. In a white package with red writing and a big red arrow. Seriously? I know it’s not a big deal, but if Windex and all it’s knock-offs are BLUE, why would you want to confuse us with making the package red!?
Yup. I ranted to my husband and pitched the target coupons as soon as I saw the annoying arrows all over it.
haha, that’s funny April because I thought the same thing when I saw the ads. Gave me anxiety and I didn’t quite understand the whole thing. http://www.whatupduck.com
We don’t have a Target that’s close so I haven’t seen this packaging – at least I didn’t notice it the last time I was in a Target. Although I don’t like what I see in your picture it does have a tad more color to it than Walmart’s new packaging. I thought Walmart did theirs with no color to save dollars. I HATE IT!!!!!
I totally agree. I received their coupon mailer this week and couldn’t tell what each product was. Not good at all!
Hate it hate it hate it! Even the booklet of coupons I got in the mail the other day hurt my eyes. I couldn’t tell what any of the coupons were for without inspecting them. I am praying they change back SOON! Don’t they know their demographic is a population of women usually in a hurry, perhaps,and I am not including present company of course, aging a bit, and have a tad bit of trouble in the “seeing” department, and may get totally irritated by having to inspect every package to be sure they are getting what they think they are getting!?
Ok…I am up here in Canada and we don’t have Target but I have looked at the new marketing on the target site and I don’t understand the confusion. It is written on the package what it is so why would you get diaper wipes confused with something else that is labeled furniture wax? Thanks for clarifying for me and I have heard excellent things about Target so looking forward to shopping there when down in Palm Springs in December!