Our team presented in 2013 Rotman Business Design Challenge to the sponsor, Target, our solution to engage millennials in sustainability. We created Target Blue™.
Target Blue is brand that uses high design in the creation of its products, nurtures engagement with its customers in the promotion of its products and upcycles its retired products to facilitate waste and continue product lifetime.
Specifically, Blue offers low price jeans, these jeans from their infancy will be designed to circle through a closed- loop system:
1. The jeans will be designed and created with the collaboration of Target and a designer.
2. The jeans are sold with a customer proposal to be taken back by Target at Target stores.
3. When customers take back the jeans to Target, in the time frame of 6 to 12 months they can then receive a 10% credit in the form of a Target gift card towards further Target purchases.
4. The jeans will then be temporarily held by Target and then distributed to their upcycling partner Phoenix Fibers.
5. Phoenix Fibers will convert the denim into fiber. The fiber is then made into Ultratouch Denim Insulation, a high quality sustainable building material, by Bonded Logic and then will be distributed to new Target stores, such as Canada TARGETS and all other affiliated buildings throughout their entire structures.
Bonded Logic is the largest supplier of denim insulation in the United States. UltraTouch™ is composed of 85% recycled cotton fibers, LEED certified, acoustically provides 30% better sound absorption and reduces heating and cooling costs by almost 40%.
TARGET Blue is the first brand in its industry with the intention of having a closed loop process. TARGET Blue jeans, from start to finish, will be able to capture Millennials and all customer segments using engagement.
Our Research
Through our research Millennials want to be engaged and connected.
Through on-site interviews and a 31-respondent survey we found that Millennials:
1. Value clarity with sustainable products and want to be engaged with product knowledge;
2. Want corporations to offer more transparency about their sustainable offerings or activities; and
3. Want to feel a sense of harmony or connectedness to the products they are purchasing.
Secondary Research- What Target has done
So far Target has started to respond with sustainable solutions:
1. Improving your packaging
2. Partnering with Fishwise
3. Becoming a founding member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition
But Target has a lot more to do. Besides the brand that we are introducing, which is a sustainable product strategy Target must focus on the foundation of sustainability which is focusing on the environment and how they affect it.
What Target needs to do now
Two largest environmental impacts regard:
a. Energy
b. Building Provisions
a. Energy: How can overall energy use be minimized–and renewable energy use maximized–in all stages of manufacturing, transportation, and use?
Installing solar panels lowers energy costs for the company and reduces the burning of fossil fuels into the environment.
Purchasing “Green Energy” to power your stores. Green energy refers to electricity supplied in whole or in part from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, geothermal, hydropower, and various forms of biomass. By choosing to purchase green energy, you can support increased development of renewable energy sources, which can reduce the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas.
Installing Fuel cells convert biogas into power for stores and Target structures. Think of them like batteries, except that they run as long as they are fueled by biogas or natural gas.
b. Building Provisions
Installation of LED lighting. We know you have made improvements to your refridgeration cases but you can continue to install the LED’s to all areas of your buildings, including parking lots and sales floor lighting. This is a triple-bottom-line;
LED lighting can save up to 85 percent of the electricity used by incandescent bulbs and up to 50 percent of electricity used by fluorescents, reducing TARGET operating costs significantly.
LED lighting lasts up to 50 times longer which reduces maintenance costs as well as landfill waste.
Lastly, LED lighting because of its soft-hue is more attractive, especially in larger buildings, which actually comforts customers and encourages them to stay in LED lit buildings, potentially affecting how long a TARGET customer will shop.
Secondary Loop Refrigeration- a new system to increase efficiency, prevent leakage.
Using fly ash – a byproduct of coal-fired electrical generation – and slag – a byproduct of steel manufacturing – in flooring mixtures for your stores. Every ton of fly ash saves the equivalent of one barrel of imported oil, or enough electricity to power the average American home for 24 days.
Using ULTRATOUCH Denim Insulation (LEED Certified and Sustainable)
In order to introduce the sustainable Target Blue Brand you must focus on these major impacts. This is detrimental in terms of brand consistency and brand trust as well as Green Washing.
Sustainability
At its core, sustainability is about people. The planet will go on without us. But we cannot go on without it. At its core, Target is about people. This is the connection that TARGET and sustainability share. They inherently are about people and both have an opportunity, if not a responsibility to influence our communities and our society.
Sustainability, at “its best, can shift consumption and lifestyle aspirations, literally changing the definition of prosperity.”
Target has already been able to challenge the definition of prosperity with its Expect More. Pay Less® brand promise and it’s mantra of ‘Design for All’. To become a leader in sustainability Target must begin with this systemic view.
Business Model
TARGET Blue’s business model is Building Loyalty Using Engagement
Slide 9) -10)
Low Risk and Low Costs
...it is repeatable. Many products have the potential be upcycled, they only need the resources, facilities, and customer involvement to Live On.
Revolutionary
At their core TARGET and sustainability are about people. TARGET Blue is the first brand in its industry with the intention of having a closed loop system. TARGET Blue will instigate behavior change, it will enable company transparency and will make TARGET a leader in sustainability.
Risk Analysis
TARGET Blue risk estimation has to do with brand inconsistency and green washing.
If you don’t present these brand elements consistently, everywhere, all the time
This means making your physical structures more environmentally sustainable and business intentions more environmentally responsible.
You will be sending the message that you’re not 100% genuine in your sustainable leadership.
It is crucial that any and all sustainable initiatives are seen through the inside-out:
Both non-customer facing and customer facing are implemented across all domains, manufacturing, transportation, technology, facilities, products, and waste, while being conscious of all four streams, not just the environment; the economy, people, and culture.
Low Risk and Low Costs
It is repeatable. Many products have the potential be upcycled, they only need the resources, facilities, and customer involvement to Live On.
Revolutionary
At their core TARGET and sustainability are about people. TARGET Blue is the first brand in its industry with the intention of having a closed loop system. TARGET Blue will instigate behavior change, it will enable company transparency and will make TARGET a leader in sustainability.
