Wal-mart takes a page out of Target's book

Wal-mart and Target have been rivals for years. Who has the lowest prices? The cleanest facilities? The friendliest staff? Target has had the upper hand when it comes to it's catchy and unique commercials that capture the audience's attention and have them humming along to More to Luv by the Minnutes. But the tides have turned.

I recently read an article on AOL Finance about Wal-mart's new advertising campaign and how they applied social media to give their advertising more of a punch. And it worked.

Wal-mart's latest spot shows a child's birthday party gone bad. Dad, in a clown costume, impales his foot on a toy unicorn and screams in pain and the children flee the scene. Conversely, Target's ad was forgettable, featuring a drab guy talking about the "Found $20 in the Laundry Collection." Definitely not up to Target's standard

But what really set Wal-mart's ad apart from Target's was that Wal-mart's ad went viral––a term those of us in Social Media are very familiar with. People tweeted about the ad, blogged about it and earned over 2 million views on YouTube. By utilizing social media, Wal-mart was able to get it's message out to more people and faster than before.The question is... How is Target going to bounce back?

Ashton Seckinger