Missing the "Sweet Spot"

In week 6 of class we discussed the "sweet spot" in advertising where the ads are beneficial and don't seem obtrusive into our privacy.  I was at a conference last week for work the Vice President of our customer experience team told us a story about Target and how its team was using predictive strategies to target customers for coupons.  Their research found that expecting mothers are often extremely loyal once they found the location that they plan on buying their baby products for the first several years of the child’s life.  Target hoped to find these customers and send them coupons to help bring the business into their stores.  

An analyst narrowed down several items including unscented lotion, supplements including magnesium and zinc, and extra-large cotton balls. 

This was truly incredible analysis that allowed the team to find these potentially loyal customer and they looked to send them coupons early in the second trimester to get ahead of the game.  I looked up this story and found an article written in Forbes that goes into detail on how the process went from innovative, to creepy when a man in Minneapolis walked into a store and said,

“My daughter got this in the mail!” he said. “She’s still in high school, and you’re sending her coupons for baby clothes and cribs? Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?”

It turns out that Target was right and the father didn’t know yet that his daughter was pregnant!! They have since evolved their “targeted” advertisements to include more than just coupons that are geared towards pregnant women just in case a similar situation happens and they aren’t correct that time.