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Target Headquarters 1000 Nicollet Mall Minneapolis, MN 55403 Dear Target Corporation: As expected, our report of Target’s social impact and local Muncie perceptions is attached. The basis of our report is set on the lack of knowledge college engaged 18-25 year olds possess regarding how Target gives back to the community. We learned more about the community’s engagement with Target through a social media analysis and a focus group. We crafted a survey intended to gauge how consumers view social responsibility when making purchase decisions and which social media platforms they receive information from frequently. Our social media analysis helped us realize that Target had not posted any messages of social impact on their Facebook page. This again leads draws the conclusion that Target is not effectively communicating their community enhancing social impact. With the help of focus groups from members of the Ball State community we have determined that there is a disconnect between Target and our 18-25 target group. None of the participants were aware of the influence the Target Corporation has locally or nationwide. In fact, many were curious as to what Target had done for their community. They expressed that social media would be the best vehicle to to communicate this community influence. Through our survey we hoped to gain knowledge on which platforms were most frequented among our target audience. We felt that expressing community impact creates a high credibility with the company. As our focus group explains, our participants felt more likely to shop at a company that gives back and makes a difference in the area around them. Please find a more detailed look into our research below. Sincerely, Griffin Buckley Brianna Beitzel Madi Williams Madeleine Jordan Johnnie Shelton Cassie Fasick

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Table of Contents Executive Summary…………………………………………………………...…3 Summary of Report 1……………………………………………………............5 Summary of Report 2.……………………………………………………………7 Summary of Report 3...……………..…………………………..……………....10 Conclusion…………..…...…………………………………………………….....11 References………………………………………………………………………..13 Appendix…………………………………………………………………………..14 Focus Group Transcription……………………………………………………...14 Survey……………………………………………………………………………..26

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Executive Summary Problem Statement

Target upholds a legacy of giving and service through donating money and

volunteer hours in the community. The problem is that consumers are not aware of their

social impact. Target Corporation needs to solve this problem by engaging the

community in its efforts.These efforts include education grants, wellness programs for

children, integrating sustainability into communities and more. Even though Target has

strong brand recognition and a loyal customer base, they still have room for

improvement in communication. One specific opportunity we see for Target’s

communication could be improving the process of informing consumers about Target’s

involvement in the community and social causes.

Problem Goal

Our overall goal is to understand how Target can better communicate their

generous social impact in communities around the country. Ultimately, understanding

this will help improve Target’s marketing as well as attracting new consumers and

informing current consumers about their social responsibility. With this in mind, we have

conducted a focus group, created a survey, and gathered secondary research to further

explore this subject. With our quantitative and qualitative research, we were able to

understand how consumers receive information about their community, how they see

Target as an influence in their community, the consumer’s own habits of community

involvement and how Target could better communicate their social impact.

Target Audience

Our primary audience targets college aged students, 18-25 years old, in the

Muncie area because there is a common desire to shop at places that provide a social

impact in the community. We reached out to this audience through a focus group in

which we discovered their desire to support socially responsible businesses and how

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they received information about this. Throughout our research, we enforced a

secondary audience of the Muncie community as they are involved in the community

impact efforts and would be directly affected by these efforts. Our tertiary audience

consists of regularly frequenting Target consumers who already shop at Target but may

be unaware of their social impact.

Key Research Findings

In conducting our focus group, we found that Target’s social responsibility has

gone unnoticed, especially in the Muncie community. In fact, during our focus group the

participants were curious as to whether or not Target even possessed a program for

giving back to the local community.Target’s impact was unrecognized in our target

demographic from what we could observe. We came to the conclusion that Target,

being such a generous corporation, has gone unnoticed in their social impact efforts by

our target demographic.

Amongst the focus group members, they suggested that social media could have

a big influence on raising awareness about Target’s efforts, and that it was definitely

important to use visuals showing Target is making a difference in the community. Given

the fact that our demographic was primarily college students, using social media to relay

this message will be impactful.

We concluded Target’s social impact needs to be known by communicating this

through social media campaigns in order to effectively reach their target audience.

Instead of highlighting promotions or new products, posting about specific events where

they are making an effort to give back to communities is important. Overall, we found

that this may increase Target’s credibility as a company if they focus on their social

impact. If Target creates widespread awareness of their efforts, this might entice the

target audience to shop at Target because of their increase in credibility and generous

social responsibility.

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Summary of Report 1 Research Procedure

In report one we focused on identifying our problem and creating a situation

analysis as well as an audience analysis. We started by identifying what Target’s

problem was when it came to their social impact on the community. Once we defined

our problem, we focused on the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and

threats. We researched Target’s website and social media accounts to gain the

information needed to see what their positive and negatives were as a whole.

First, we took a look at the internal factors. Our internal factors included

organizational history, services, products, and so forth. We looked at the founder of

Target, and what the company sells through their store and their digital channel. As we

went further into educating ourselves with the company, we started to dive deeper into

how Target gives back to the community. Later in key findings we will discuss all of the

various things Target does, including volunteer work, programs, and other efforts to help

benefit their local community. We also looked at Target’s finances and controlled media

content.

Next, we moved on to our external factors by performing a content analysis. Our

research question was “Is Muncie Target using Facebook to communicate that they

engage in the community and promote social cause?” Madde and I analyzed every 3

posts, and kept track of our data.

Finally, our next procedure was to complete an audience analysis. We defined

the situation, organization, communication, demographics, and personality preferences.

We did this by using the research we found and applying it to the audience we wanted

to reach out to. The demographics we chose were middle-class consumers between the

ages of 25 and 45.

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Key Findings

Our findings from Report 1 were greatly beneficial to our overall project. We

found that Muncie Target’s Facebook content is made up of is 46.7% product posts,

46.7% other-type posts, 6.6% promotion posts, and 0% community/social cause posts.

This data showed us that they are not effectively using their social media for community

and social cause outreach. We also found our target audience, middle class consumers

between the ages of 25 and 45.

Justification of each Research Method

Identifying Target’s problem was the most important thing we could have done,

this was the foundation of all of our reports. We turned to their social media to see what

they were doing and identify what they were not doing. By finding the problem, we could

help with a solution.

Our next research method was to do a SWOT analysis. This helped us identify

Targets strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. For example, we compared

their company to others and focused how they were making an impact on the

community.

Finally, our audience analysis. This helped us greatly. We were able to find the

target audience that needed to be reached and focused on the most. By choosing an

audience that was middle class between the ages of 25 and 45 we would have a large

audience, but a somewhat young audience. A lot of younger people in our day in age

love giving their time to volunteer and be the difference. Target must work on their

social impact and flaunt all of the good work they do within communities.

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Summary of Report 2 Research Procedure

In terms of protocol, we began planning our primary research on September 26,

2016. That day we discussed our problem statement and composed our research

problem as a team. After discussing possible research methods, we chose to conduct a

focus group and assigned team members different research roles, which are detailed

below.

Role Team Member

Scheduler Madi WIlliams

Moderator Madeleine Jordan

Recorder Brianna Beitzel

Analyst Griffin Buckley

Summarizer Johnnie Shelton

Recruiter Cassie Fassick

We held our focus group on October 4, 2016 at 6:30 pm in a conference room

located in Bracken Library. Brianna, Cassie, and Madeleine arrived at 6 to set up. At

6:25 Cassie retrieved the focus group participants from their meeting spot downstairs

and by 6:30 the focus group began. Free pizza and refreshments, along with an

icebreaker, were used to welcome participants and set a comfortable atmosphere for

those involved. The focus group’s content consisted of questions on target with our

research problem and was organized in funnel system. Further information on our

protocol can be found in the appendix.

In terms of our study population, our focus group included 8 Ball State University

students. These students carried a common interest; all were Juniors or Seniors at the

university. This was the main interest we focused on. We wanted people around this

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age because that is who we specifically wanted to target on the matter; the age ranged

from 20-23 years old. We wanted the focus group members to have a common interest,

but we also wanted them to have different personalities. A diverse group was chosen,

so that when we conducted our data analysis we would have different opinions on the

matter.

Our main recruitment strategy was to reach out to people who were diverse in

their opinions. The first thing that was looked for was our specific target audience. We

chose juniors and seniors as our sample because, if they didn’t have too much in

common, they would at least be able to share that common characteristic. After

choosing our sample in the recruitment process, we decided to look for people who

weren’t exactly friends with each other. People usually, not always, surround

themselves with friends who share the same beliefs and characteristics as themselves.

We were not looking for the same opinion on our topic. We did this focus group to get

an understanding from different point of views. That being said, our focus group

members were chosen based on their different personalities and views.

After specific people were chosen, Cassie our recruiter, reached out to them via

text message. Each person had another common denominator, they knew the recruiter.

Once texts were sent out to 15 different people, 8 were finally chosen. We reached out

to them via Email by confirming the date, time and place where the focus group was

going to take place. We also threw a little bribe in there, pizza. The sample and

recruiting process was a success. People were chosen based off personality,

differences and class status. All 8 members of the focus group showed up and gave

their opinion on the topic. Key Findings

Our findings from this focus troup tell us that in order to make Target’s social

impact known, Target should make an extra effort to communicate this through social

media campaigns to effectively reach their target audience. Instead of highlighting

promotions or new products, they can post about specific events where they are making

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an effort to give back to communities, which in the end may increase their credibility as

a company. If Target creates widespread awareness of their efforts, this might entice

the target audience to shop at Target because of their increase in credibility and

generous social responsibility.

Justification of Research Methods

Our group chose to do a focus group. There was a panel of eight students from

Ball State that were split between 5 males and 3 females. We based the way we ran

the focus group off of our group member, Madeleine’s experience. She has run them

before and had personal experience with being in one too. We made our questioning

based on broad generic questions that funneled down into more in depth ones. Also,

the questions were aimed a lot more towards specifically Target in the late questions.

Within each question we had sub-questions ready to probe the group to add on to what

they just spoke about. We were trying to obtain the most qualitative information we

could surrounding the main question points. Our decision was based on the fact that

we wanted to gain multiple perspectives in a group setting. We also know that focus

groups allow for brainstorming to happen amongst the members and cause for more

elaborate answers to develop (Hagglund).

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Summary of Report 3 Research procedure

When creating our survey, our population was to consist of all Muncie students.

This would not only contain Ball State University students by also the community

college of Ivy Tech’s students. This would give us a very large diverse population to

choose from. We chose to not survey the entire population but save money and survey

a sample that would be about as effective and more time efficient. The sample size we

chose was about 200 people.We will have a complete list of all students and use

stratified random sampling. It will allow us to have completely random participants

chosen by the nth number. We will divide them into subgroups using to make sure that

an even number is chosen from each school, year and major. This will allow us to have

the most diverse sets as possible. Whomever participates will be eligible to win a $100

Target gift card. This incentive will hopefully persuade the population to take the

survey.

Plan of Analysis

Our plan of analysis would be to use correlation to compare the relationship

between our population hearing about Target’s social impact and their willingness to

buy from a company with a social impact. Our questions were interval and ratio based

allowing us to the correlation analysis. We believe we will obtain the best insights

through this analysis.

Justification of Research Methods

We chose to do 200 people out of the population to make everything more

efficient. We started off our survey with general questions about the participant to get

them comfortable and give us a general idea about them. Then we dove into questions

about social responsibility and how important it is to them. Then we had questions

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geared towards which social media platforms they use and obtain their information from.

We believed that this was vital to know for the fact that we want to reach them at the

best platform we can and the one they are using the most. Not knowing this, we could

end up wasting our time and resources. Others questions we had were to see if the

participants were more likely to connect with and buy from a company that they know to

be engaged in the community. This will give good insights to show the company that

people care about knowing about the social impact they have and the benefits they can

get from it. We also want to know why they follow companies on social media and if

they even know Target gives back to the community. All of these questions give further

insight into what needs to be changed in the way they communicate with their audience.

We tried to stray away from simple answer questions and went for more in depth ones

with likert scales and ranking type questions. We felt that it worked best with the type of

questions we had and knowing the order of social media they use would give us

stronger insights on how to communicate with them.

Conclusion Throughout the research of our previous reports, we have been exploring

consumer unawareness of Target’s social impact. We have accomplished this by

evaluating their current communication plan,

In order for Target to make their social impact more known, we have found the

organization should make an effort to communicate this through social media

campaigns. In addition of highlighting promotions or new products, they can also post

about specific events where they are making an effort to give back to communities,

which in the end may increase their credibility as a company. Most importantly, Target

must aim these communication efforts towards those who are highly involved in the

community and those with the intention to learn about various community activities.

As we have discovered in our research, customers feel more satisfaction when

they are aware of the company’s philanthropic actions. By communicating their social

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impact and creating a widespread awareness of their efforts, Target can increase their

credibility, attract new customers, and delight their current customer base.

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References

Briggs, E., Yang, Z., Harmon-Kizer, T. R., & Arnold, T. J. (2016). How Do Differing Community

Engagement Strategies Affect Consumer Responses to a Retailer?. Journal Of

Marketing Theory & Practice, 24(1), 109-127. doi:10.1080/10696679.2016.1089767

Ho, F., Biggeri, L., & Kalton, G. (2005). Survey as a Source of Statistics and Factors Affecting

the Quality of Survey Statistics. International Statistical Review / Revue Internationale

De Statistique, 73 (2), 245-254. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org.proxy.bsu.edu/stable/25472664

Jones, S., & Hill, K. (2003). Understanding Patterns of Commitment: Student Motivation for

Community Service Involvement. The Journal of Higher Education, 74 (5), 516-539.

Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3648282

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Appendix Transcript from Focus Group

Madde: “We’re going to do an icebreaker. I’m sure that’s exactly what everyone wants to do, but we’re going to each go around saying your name, your major, your favorite place to shop, and your most used social media platform. I can start things off. So my name is Madde. I am an advertising major. My favorite place to shop is probably H&M even though I haven’t really been there in a while… And my most used social media is probably Snapchat. So…” “My name is Cassie. All of you know that. I’m going to have a laugh-attack. I’m a PR major….” “I got it… I’m Jordan. My major is Elementary Education. Um, I like shopping at TJ Maxx, and what was the last thing? Oh, Snapchat!” “Ok, I’m Megan. My major is advertising. My, what was it, favorite place to shop is Pac Sun and my favorite social media is Snapchat too.” “My name is Nicki. I’m a nursing major. My favorite place to shop is anything online. And, Instagram.” “My name is Kyle. I’m a marketing major. My favorite place to shop would be Urban or American Eagle and, um, my most used social media would be Snapchat or Instagram.” “My name is Richard. I’m Entrepreneurial Management. My favorite place to shop is pretty much anything online and snapchat.” “My name is Robert. Finance major. Favorite place to shop is Amazon. And… I use snapchat mostly.” “Jordan. Business major. Favorite place to shop, uh, TJ Maxx I guess, maybe. Um, and Snapchat.” “Hi, I’m Carly. I’m a Public Relations major. My favorite place to shop is TJ Maxx. (inaudible comment). And… my favorite social media is probably Instagram or Snapchat.” Madde: “Alright, awesome. So first off to begin, you all are part of the Muncie community, right? You all go to Ball State? Alright, so how do you guys typically receive information about the Muncie community? “Probably just word of mouth.”

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Madde: “Word of mouth?” “Or Twitter I see a lot. If something is retweeted.” “Facebook posts.” “Sometimes on posters around campus too.” Madde: “Okay. So, like, you guys are getting information online and also in print ads. Okay. Um, what type of information are you typically receiving from that source? For example, from Twitter, what kind of things are you seeing tweets about and what kind of posters?” “Like specific events.” Madde: “Events, the type of events. Is it something for Greek life or is it some fundraiser put on by a club, or different things like that?” “Is this just in the Ball State area?” Madde: “No, I guess, yeah. Yeah, it’s for all of Muncie. So…” “I would say a lot of Greek Life. I’m involved in Greek Life so I follow a lot of different, like, organizations. So… a lot of people retweet stuff.” Madde: “Who said word of mouth? “Me.” Madde: “What types of events or what do you typically or what type of community outreach do you typically hear of?” “Um, like volunteer events. Percentage nights, especially I hear a lot of. Um, and then, like, different food places if they’re having a sale, like, I always hear about.” Madde: “Okay, like what food places?” “Like, literally everything in the village I always hear.” Madde: “Okay. Like restaurants?” “Yeah. Like, I always…. Last night it’s all you can eat wings at Scotty’s so like a group of us went. Yeah, all the specials I always hear about.”

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Madde: “And then what do you typically see on the posters?” “Um, probably, you know something like different events, but then also when they’re going on, what’s going to be there, that kind of thing.” Madde: “So how involved would you guys say you are in the Muncie community? On and let’s all go around the room on a scale of 1 to 10. One being highly involved, ten being… No, one being not involved and ten being highly involved. Including Ball State as part of Muncie.” “Mm…. Like 5 or 6.” “Yeah, I would say a 5. Most of it being from Ball State.” “Same. 5” “5” “Probably like a 6” Madde: “Is the number any different. If you were, if the question were to be specifically for Ball State as compared to Muncie, just Muncie?” “Yeah.” “Yeah.” Madde: “So which one would be more involved?” “Ball State.” “Ball State.” Madde: “Ball State? Okay. So in where, in what ways are you typically involved in the Muncie community if any of you are?” “I volunteer at the food bank sometimes. Madde: “Uh, what’s the food bank? Second Harvest?” “Yeah, Second Harvest. (inaudible male voice 5:45)

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“I would say that if I am its like through Ball State so like I would still give back to the Muncie community but like through an organization or through a class.” Madde: “Okay, okay. So any other specific places that you guys volunteer at?” “I would just say its like one time events that kind of like working those or that kind of thing.”” Madde: “Okay. And so how often would you guys say you’re involved?” “Maybe like once a month” “Yeah, once a month” Madde: “So can you guys think of any specific organizations, it doesn’t have to be something you’re involved in, but any specific organizations that you know of that engage in the community?” “SVS” Madde: “SVS” “Mhm” “I know a lot of Greek organizations do.” Madde: “Okay, yeah. Do you guys know of any things that aren’t affiliated with Ball State?” “Can you repeat the question?” Madde: “Just any organization that are engaged in the community.” “Um, Little Red Door is like a cancer agency that provides services to people in the Muncie community.” “Isn’t there that AARF, like animal relief?” “The boys and girls club helps a lot Madde: “So, um, another question. Do you guys know of any retail stores in the area that you know that give back to the community?” “Goodwill. “Goodwill

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“Like the restaurants that are willing to do, like, profit nights” Madde: “Oh, okay so like…” “Percentage of their..” Madde: “What restaurants are that, are those?” “Well like we have one this Wednesday at Scotty’s, um from 4-11, but they donate like 10% of their profit they make towards Make A Wish for us. Madde: “Oh, okay. That’s cool.” “The last two years we’ve done our percentage night with Culvers.” “Culvers?” “Oh yeah I’ve heard of a lot through Pita Pit too” (inaudible male voice) Madde: “So does it seem like its mostly restaurants that are doing that?” “Like a large portion” “Yeah, I would say” Madde: “So let’s say there were a retail store in the area that gave back to the community. Would you be more likely to support that store and shop there if you knew that?” “Yeah.” “Mhm” Madde: “Like TOMS” “Yeah exactly” Madde: “Okay, so, we’re going to do a sticky note exercise now. So I’ll be around to give you a sticky note. I’m going to say a company name and you’re going to write down the first three things that you think of when you hear this company name. The company is Target.”

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“I think about spending all my money that’s the first thing…” “Money.” (inaudible whispering among focus group participants) (indecipherable small talk between participants about exercise answers) (laughter) (off-topic discussions among participants about schoolwork) Madde: “Alright, did everyone get their three words written down? It can be a phrase. Okay so let’s go around the room and start with Carly. What do you have?” “So I had ‘cute home décor’ I thought we were just doing just three different things. And then ‘clothes’ and ‘groceries’.” Madde: “Did anyone else have any of those?” (pause) Madde: “So those were the first three things that came to mind?” “Yes” Madde: “So are those like what you when you’re looking for those items you go to Target?” “Typically, yeah.” Madde: “What about you?” “I think every time I go to Target it seems like it’s all women there. It’s really neat and I guess higher quality than Wal-Mart. I think it’s also younger people.” Madde: “Younger. So younger, high quality, neat… so that’s more so what you have associated with the brand?” “Yeah.” “So mine were ‘red’, like the color red, ‘a bulls eye,’ and then popcorn.” Madde: “Can you explain the popcorn?”

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“You buy it there.” “It smells when you walk in” Madde: “I don’t remember that, fair enough.” “It’s right by the door” Madde: “Anyone else have popcorn?” (pause) Madde: “What about you? “I’ve got family oriented. Expensive compared to other places and like all in one stop shop.” Madde: “Anyone else have any of those?” “Yeah, well I had ‘red’ as well because of their logo and their name. It’s the first thing I thought of and then everything, like it’s an everything store, they even have groceries now. And then, I put affordable because their clothing and shirts are super cheap and good quality.” Madde: “Would all of you agree… Well one of you said affordable and another said expensive. How many of you would consider it to be expensive?” “I think it depends on what you’re shopping for” Madde: “Okay” “Like I never get my groceries from Target.” Madde: “Is that because they’re expensive?” “Yeah, but I would get like clothes from there. Like if you’re comparing stores. So if you’re comparing to Wal-Mart I would say Wal-Mart is cheaper, but like Target…” (cut-off by someone else talking) “And if you compare it to like Forever 21 you can get like a plain t-shirt at Forever 21 for like $3 and then Target’s like $20, it’s terrific.” “That’s true” Madde: “No, that is true.”

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“It’s so expensive” Madde: “In what ways would you consider it more affordable then?” “Their shoes.” “Shoes” Madde: “So they tend to have trendier items, more trendy than Wal-Mart, but not as expensive as other retailers.” “And I think its better quality. I feel more confident buying something from there than Wal-Mart so it makes me feel like it's cheaper because its better quality.” Madde: “Okay. Alright, did we stop with you?” “I put ‘dog’ from their advertising and then I just put commercials because they always have those singing ones and then I put shoes.” Madde: “Do you like the commercials they typically have?” “They’re eye catching. I love their Christmas commercials. They’re funny” “They’re like people singing and dancing” “It’s not just a boring ad that talks about… There are bright colors.” Madde: “Do you see any of their other types of ads besides TV?” “Newspaper” “We get their physical ad, yeah” Madde: “Any social media or anything like that?” “I always have on the tagline when I’m scrolling through it’ll say Target” “They pop up on Twitter every once and a while” “I think maybe because I’ve looked at their stuff online that the ads will pop up on my browsers” Madde: “Alright, what about you?”

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“I did the dog as well and then I said shopping because I just love to go there. I also said spending and I meant to say ‘spending all my money’ because I blow all my money every time I go.” “Okay, I said the Target Red Card because every time I go they ask me about it. Money because I spend a lot of money there and the dog kind of like what he said.” Madde: “Thank you all for sharing your sticky-notes with us” Madde: “Cassie is going to write something on the board for us now. So if you could all turn your sticky note over and before we begin fill-in-the-blank. So if you want to fill in the blank to what she writes you want to do that on the sticky note and we can go over that afterwards.” (pause) Madde: “And you can write more than one word” (pause) (small-talk among participants) Madde: “Alright, everyone done?” Madde: “Let’s have you begin this time” “So I learn information about Target through paper advertisement, word of mouth, their website, and walking in and seeing their ads as soon as you walk in the door saying, like, ‘two for one’. Madde: “Did anyone else have any of those?” “I had all of them.” “I had newspaper, but I’m going to be honest if I know I need something I’m going to go to Target. Madde: “Okay, so that’s like your go to?” “Yeah just for like one or two things” Madde: “Awesome” “I would just say when… (inaudible answer)

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“I would say print ads or if I tell somebody ‘oh I like your pants’ and they’re like ‘hey I got them from Target’ here I go.” (Indecipherable talking of participants over one another) “I said commercials, ads in magazines, or… (inaudible answer) “I said from shopping there, commercials, and online advertisements.” “I said going there, paper ads and then on the computer.” “I said their website or visiting the store.” Madde: “Alright, awesome. So are there any of those outlets even word of mouth… Do you ever hear anything about Target’s social impact and what they do for the community? And if you don’t, that’s fine that’s what we’re here to figure out.” “Not as much as I should” Madde: “Okay” (pause) “Madde: How do you think Target could better communicate to you personally? In what ways would you prefer to hear about their social impact?” “I think if they did a commercial where they combined their products with the stuff they do and they could tie them together that could be cool.” Madde: “Kind of like TOMS shoes? Is that what you’re talking about? “Kind of like whatever they use that they do for the community they could. If they put that into the commercial but also tie that into the stores. “Having commercials that highlight what they do not only what they sell?” “Mhm.” “Don’t they have a Red campaign? Is that what it is?” “I was thinking that too.” “I feel like I’ve seen it on a commercial”

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Madde: “Oh, Red is a campaign, but I don’t think it’s associated with Target. It’s for AIDS awareness, but I don’t think it’s part of Target, but that could be a good partnership with them.” “Don’t they make greener household products? I don’t know if that’s like community based, but that helps the world.” “That’s true.” Madde: “Do you guys have any other suggestions besides having a commercial that would show what they do?” “Social media.” Madde: “Social media? So what types of things would you expect to see?” “I don’t know I see a lot of stuff on like Twitter that’s promoted by businesses and I don’t necessarily follow them but they still show up on my feed then like on TV because I don’t really watch TV.” “Sometimes there’s sponsor ads on Instagram. Those always catch my eye if I’m scrolling and then they’re the ones that move.” (Participants talking over one another) Madde: “Do you think they could use those?” “Yeah, but I think I would want it to be ones where you see what they’re doing. Like the brand you see all the time, what impact they’re making. If they go somewhere and I don’t know do, like, water cleaning or something like that I want to see that as opposed to their brand. Madde: “So instead of their brand or like hey we’re doing this you want to see like the effects of what they’ve done?” “Mhm, yeah. Or at least that’s me anyways” Madde: “How could they showcase that?” “So I guess for instance, I don’t even know how they impact or what they do but if they are helping with natural relief, showing pictures of them volunteering there and then maybe with their logo at the bottom, but just like more in action kind of pictures. Madde: “Anyone else have any ideas?”

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“I think stuff that would make it on the news. I notice a lot of things pop up for example on Yahoo! It always has the latest things that will pop up. I always glance at those or usually watch some sort of short news document on my computer. Madde: “Do you mean like national news as a nation wide thing or on a local level? “I think on a national level” Madde: “So we have social media, commercials, news… Any other ideas?” (pause) Madde: “Well, we’re pretty much all done for this focus group. But before wrapping up do you have any more comments or questions based on what we’ve been talking about today with Target and their social outreach? “Do they have a program?” Madde: “Yes they do actually. They’re pretty heavily involved in local communities and also, like, have some nationwide campaigns going on. I can’t actually remember any of the specific ones. Can you remember?” Brianna: “They help out a lot with education so they give books and school supplies to schools that need them.” “That actually kind of rings a bell” Brianna: “They also do a lot of volunteering in the community itself. They rack up hours and different stores have different hours that they reach. “So is this a Target thing or do the individual employees do it on their own? Madde: “It’s a Target thing. Brianna: “I don’t know if this is true in Muncie, but some Targets require their employees to do volunteer work.” Madde: “So they’re very heavily involved in communities. What we’re trying to learn today was if our age group and demographic were aware of that and we were trying to see if there was a better way for Target to communicate to this audience. So you guys were very helpful in us discovering they’re really not doing the best job of that. So thank you so much for your time and feel free to grab some more pizza on your way out. That’s really all we have today.”

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Survey

1. What is your gender? a. Female b. Male c. Other d. Prefer not to answer

2. How old are you?

a. 18 or younger b. 19 c. 20 d. 21 e. 22 or older

3. What year are you in school?

a. Freshman b. Sophomore c. Junior d. Senior e. Graduate +

4. What is your major? __________________

5. I consider myself to be socially responsible. a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree

6. Being socially responsible is _________ to me.

a. Very important b. Important c. Neutral d. Not that important e. Not at all important

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7. I am interested in being involved in my community. a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree

8. What types of causes would you be most likely to support? Check up to three. ❏ Social justice ❏ Educational ❏ Environmental ❏ Health/medical ❏ Food and hunger ❏ Financial

9. I make it a point to shop at stores that give back to the community.

a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree

10. It is _____ to me to me to shop at retail stores that make an impact on the community.

a. Very important b. Important c. Neutral d. Not that important e. Not at all important

11.Where do you get most of your information from on a weekly basis? Rank 1 through 5, with 1 being the most and 5 being the least. ____ Internet ____ Social Media

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____ Newspaper ____ Word of Mouth ____ Television

12. I have or am likely to engage with companies on (check all that apply): ❏ Facebook ❏ Twitter ❏ Instagram ❏ Snapchat ❏ Pinterest ❏ Other: ______________

13. I prefer companies that give back locally rather than at the national level. a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree

14. I know of retail stores that have an impact in my community. a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree

15. I would be more likely to shop at a store that has a significant social impact in my community.

a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree

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16.How often would you shop at a store that you knew never gave back to the community?

a. Never b. Rarely c. Sometimes d. Often e. Almost always f. Always

17.Target is a company that gives back to the community. a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. I’m not sure d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree

18.Why do you follow companies on social media?

a. For entertainment b. For information on the company c. For information on products d. For promotions and deals e. Other: __________

19. I am more likely to follow a company on social media if they are socially responsible.

a. Strongly agree b. Agree c. Neutral d. Disagree e. Strongly disagree

20. I am more likely to share stories of social impact on:

a. Facebook b. Twitter c. Instagram d. Snapchat e. Pinterest

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f. Other: _______________

21. I follow Target on: ❏ Facebook ❏ Twitter ❏ Instagram ❏ Snapchat ❏ Pinterest ❏ Other:_________