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On May 2, Target made its first appearance at Newfronts, the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Digital Content event in New York. The purpose was to unveil a new name and identity for its Target Media Network, along with a virtual recasting of the business model. Its new name, Roundel, (a circular disc) is a tip-of-the-hat to the familial Target bullseye. The identity change coincides with a new emphasis on its work, not only for its parent, but for its growing cadre of “outside clients” that have been benefiting from Target’s significant digital media chops.
Target’s media business works with over 1,000 diverse client-types from consumer product groups to service sectors. Their clients run the gamut from Dyson to Disney, Unilever to P&G, Mastercard to Allstate. Kristi Argyilan, Roundel’s President told Broadcasting & Cable: “Ultimately Roundel is a fresh identity to take our media business to the next level because we're not just operating a retail media network.”
Being a Minneapolitan, my first exposure to the new name and graphic identity, was through the Star Tribune business section. Yes, I still get newsprint on my hands while eating breakfast, before I launch a laptop; I know it’s quaint. The front-page article displayed the new corporate identity (name and logo) somewhat unceremoniously, in black and white. I was more than a bit taken aback by it. The logo looked a lot like an out-of-focus olive, seen by someone who had one too-many martinis. Anchoring the logo, was “Roundel” in a clean and bold uppercase sans serif typeface (Helvetica Medium I think). It certainly caught my attention, but not for all the right reasons. The article explained that while referencing the bullseye, it was intended to be “different enough in color and design to signal that it’s a distinct entity from the retailer’s red and white logo.” Mission accomplished, I think.
Knowing Target and having been a consultant to them back in the day (as was just about every other Twin Cities store designer) I knew there had to be more to this. I quickly did a deeper online dive into the redo. Peeling back the next layer of the graphic onion revealed the full-color “olive” in a vibrant red-orange to magenta, surrounding a blue to violet-blended “pimento” center. Interestingly, the icon or logo portion of the identity was intentionally blurred, while the uppercase Roundel typeface was crisp and sharp. So, what’s the message here? I dug deeper.
Much to my surprise in the subsequent press releases, the olive morphed into a kaleidoscope of op art-like circular graphic images, of different colors, scales and relationships to the Roundel logotype. This somewhat shocking revelation runs contrary to every graphic identity “rule-book” I ever read. My mentor, a strict Bauhaus modernist, would be shocked indeed. Aside from the black-and-white “olive” which certainly got my attention, what's the takeaway here? Perhaps the message is, that in the brave new world of digital media and micro half-life messaging, constant evolution and no hard and fast rules, are the new rules. Accept of course, the consistency of the well-anchored Roundel script. Time for a martini.
