Joyful, playful, curious, adventurous—it is hard to choose which word best describes Bullseye, the Target dog. Whether he’s showing up at store openings, in our TV spots or on the red carpet, Bullseye’s fun and friendly personality is the ultimate expression of the Target brand. So how exactly did this pup become the company mascot? Let’s rewind to 1999 …
In 2003, Bullseye became a value ambassador as well, with his inclusion in the “See. Spot. Save.” advertising campaign. With that, his rise to fame was meteoric: “See. Spot. Save.” cemented Bullseye as part of American pop culture, and he soon became a fixture on red carpets and appearances at events across the U.S. and beyond.
Bullseye made his debut in Target’s iconic 1999 advertising campaign “Sign of the Times,” which featured a white English bull terrier with the Target logo over his left eye, set to a reworked version of the 1960s Petula Clark pop tune “A Sign of the Times.” The campaign proved to be a hit—and guests and team members demanded more Bullseye. In response, Target’s marketing team incorporated Bullseye into print, web and direct marketing later that year, even including his likeness as one of the first Target GiftCard designs that fall.
Today, Bullseye helps bring the Target brand to life—greeting guests in stores at Bullseye’s Playground or one of our Bullseye benches and popping up in your emails for a Target.com order. What’s he up to next? You never know—this Target dog is full of surprises!
The Target name and logo was one of 200 choices
George Draper Dayton was a New Yorker who wanted to get into the store business, so he chose Minneapolis, Minn. in 1881 to open the Dayton Dry Goods Company, later becoming the Dayton Company department store chain. In 1961, the company announced that they would open up a discount store offshoot, saying that the new place would “combine the best of the fashion world with the best of the discount world, a quality store with quality merchandise at discount prices, and a discount supermarket… 75 departments in all.”
But they didnt know what to call it. They looked at over 200 possible choices for the name and logo, and decided that a target, complete with a bullseye logo, was the way to go. They explained the choice, saying, “As a marksmans goal is to hit the center bulls-eye, the new store would do much the same in terms of retail goods, services, commitment to the community, price, value and overall experience.”
The first Target opened in 1962, and while there have been a variety of logo styles over the years, the bullseye remains front and center. It is so recognizable that reportedly 93 percent of Americans who shop can identify the brand without the store name — just the logo!
People have called Target “Tarjay” since the 1960s
Many Target shoppers have made the joke of using a French pronunciation for the stores name to make it sound more upscale. They may think theyre funny or even original in doing so. But it turns out that this French pronunciation is a very old joke. How old? Douglas J. Dayton, the first president of Target, said he first heard it in Duluth, Minn. in 1962, the year the store first opened.
Indeed the bougie pronunciation of the store has become so ubiquitous that even financial professionals use it when theyre discussing business trends, according to CNBC. That was the case back in 2014, when Target was struggling to make gains in the market. “[Target] needs to get back to the Tarjay, its been awhile since we have had that perception,” said Bob Drbul, equity analyst at Nomura. Sounds like this term will be in the lexicon for years to come.
FAQ
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