Advertising on Target.com (by Roundel, Target’s Media Company)

February 18, 2021

What is Roundel?

Roundel is a modern media company that proves an age-old truth: People love a brand that knows what they like. Consequently, being a part of Target media outlet, they specialize in re-imagining the way eCommerce and Target.com advertising work today.

One of their main objectives is striking a new balance between analytics and empathy, code and common sense, IQ and EQ. Hence, they show that it is more rewarding to choose platforms that reflect a brand’s long-term vision over chasing vanity metrics for quarterly reports.

In short, with Target, Roundel seeks to make a meaningful impact and moving media forward through:

Offering people the right messages in the right places at the right times—in ways that prioritize their privacy, intelligence, and values.
Putting brands—and their products—in the best position to grow business, gain trust, and build lasting relationships.
Giving agencies a clear picture of where their clients’ ads run, who they reach, and why.

Because at Roundel, we believe media works best when it works in everyone’s best interests.

How it Works

In their own words, Roundel offers “solutions that are changing media for good”. They achieve this by trotting out data with empathy; making a measurement that proves value, and showing transparency from end to end.

Programmatic by Roundel

This feature allows for more control over your media buys. This is facilitated by using custom, cookie-less audiences via your own DSP.

Here, proprietary, first-party data is backed by purchases and consumer behaviors across Target. There’s an overlay on brand-positive inventory and accessible by your preferred DSP. Also, there are no walled gardens; it’s just the flexibility to transact programmatically, at scale, on your terms.

Source: Roundel

From the features displayed above, Roundel programmatic helps to put the power of Target’s proprietary audiences to work for your brands as it changes how you execute programmatic media for the better.

Requirements

Here’s what you need to know to get started—and get in control of your media buys.

Addressable, audience-first private marketplace

Display and video inventory
Standard and high-impact sizes supported
First-party audience targeting is packaged with inventory and runs via our trusted addressable marketplace of premium publishers (including Target.com)
We integrate brand safety into our solution to protect your media
SSP is Index Exchange

Target.com contextual private marketplace

Target.com inventory, both desktop, and mobile web display
Reach engaged guests anywhere during their shopping journey, even in specific categories like home decor, electronics, beauty, and more
Brand-safe within an uncluttered environment
728×90 and 320×50 sizes supported
SSP is Google Ads Manager.

Search by Roundel

To engage high-intent shoppers and drive more conversions, you can boost product sales and maximize ROAS with search ads on Target properties and Google.

With Roundel, you capture high-intent shoppers as they actively search for relevant products (like yours!) on Google and drive them to convert on Target.com, the Target app, or in-store.

Get closed-loop measurement to truly understand how your campaign impacted sales.
Maximize brand coverage and overall click-share for relevant product searches.
Use Target’s first-party data to reach highly qualified, purchase-ready audiences.

Two methods to fit your campaign needs

Leverage Target assets and first-party data for quick plug-and-play activation of product listing ads or extended text ads.

In-flight approach: Incorporate search tactics into your holistic marketing programs, reaching guests at all marketing touchpoints during seasonal and high-opportunity time frames.
Always-on approach: Run your search campaigns as a stand-alone, dedicated campaign capturing qualified hand-raises all year long.

You can close the loop on campaign spend and performance by accurately measuring how media impacts product sales—both online and in-store. So you can get actionable insights to inform your next winning media strategy

Below is a flowchart of how Roundel helps match your media to real-people sales:

Source: Roundel

Since consumers continually turn to Google as they search for the best products to meet their needs. Together with Roundel, you can convert more high-intent shoppers and optimize future campaigns based on actionable results.

Social by Roundel

To influence customer purchases across popular social platforms, Roundel helps you engage with shoppers where they are online—across Facebook, Pinterest, and Snapchat—with static, animated, or video ad placements.

In launching your omnichannel campaign, Roundel helps you hit the bullseye with social ad targeting backed by real sales data through:

Reaching Target’s first-party audiences at scale via any device with static, animated, or video ad placements.
Co-marketing with Target on social channels to build brand credibility across the buyer’s journey as guests actively shop and search.
Measuring closed-loop sales impact of your media on select platforms, including Pinterest, and access transactional and behavioral data on millions of Target guests.

Display by Roundel

To stay top-of-mind for your ideal customers and capture the attention and interest of your desired audiences, Roundel helps you reach first-party audiences at scale and measure the true sales impact of your media.

Roundel helps you reach relevant audiences in a scalable, measurable way. Also, it helps you get in front of real shoppers with standard and premium ad placements, on and off Target.com, at a near-zero fraud rate.

Prove the ROAS of your digital media with closed-loop measurement of display, video, and audio ads tied to Target’s in-store and online sales.
Deliver your brand message with ad placements in relevant, brand-positive environments, whether it’s on Target.com or our curated marketplace of 150+ premium published sites.
Engage with first-party audiences at scale, customized to who you want to reach, based on in-store and third-party data on millions of Target guests.

Ad Placement on Display by Roundel

Relevant messages delivered at the right moment can help create that initial spark between your brand and your audience. This approach comes at scale, with measurement for products sold at Target, to prove the impact of your investments. Below are the two modes of ad placement:

Display Banners
Target.com Display

Source: Roundel

Display by Roundel offer the following service options:

Managed Service: This service lets Roundel help manage every aspect of your media buys, from pre-sale to measurement.
Self-Service: With this service, you can purchase display ads programmatically and leverage your existing measurement solutions through the DSP of your choice, with access to Target audiences and our brand-safe inventory.

How to Advertise on Target.com

Via its media company, Roundel (together with other media companies like Pacvue, Kenshoo, and Criteo), Target offers an eCommerce channel advertising solution to help brands better connect and engage shoppers with non-disruptive, native ads. Roundel applies Target’s rich customer insights to create smart, personalized campaigns that connect its guests to information and offers they’ll find most relevant.

Source: Roundel

In particular, Target Product Ads, similar to sponsored products on other eCommerce marketplaces, are biddable ad units that are easy to launch and display on Target.com and the Target app throughout the shopping experience.

Target Product Ads can be placed on:

Product Detail Pages
Category/Browse Pages
Search Pages
Dynamic Landing Pages
Product Listing Pages
Product Recommendations
Aisle Pages.

To get started with ad placement on Target.com via Roundel, visit here.

Best Practices

Target’s paid media ecosystem works differently from Amazon or Walmart and your eCommerce advertising strategy should take this into account. These best practices below use data from successful brands and advice from eCommerce experts with years of experiences: