Going back to the ’80s with Target and ‘Stranger Things’
By Naomi Greer, Head of Content – People&, and Brandon Utrup, Shopper Marketing Brand Manager – Sales
Beneath the surface of our seemingly normal company lies an archive with items dating back to our founding in 1913. It’s full of treasures that help our history come alive and provide insight into our future.
As a 112-year-old company, we can get some odd requests: a consumer wanting to know the age of his flea-market-find Clorox bottle. A movie production company looking for a Clorox ad that appeared in a New York City subway station in the 1960s. And even our own teammates researching the origin of the Formula 409 name.
Perhaps none was “stranger” than a recent request from one of our valued retail partners. For the final season of Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” Target wanted to create a period-appropriate commercial featuring a throwback to one of their stores as it would have appeared in 1987, when the series takes place. And what’s a Target store without merchandise from its favorite brands?
In a supernatural, upside-down adventure lasting just two days, we created renderings of Clorox Bleach and Liquid-Plumr from the era as well as of Pine-Sol cleaner and Glad trash, products that were part of later acquisitions. Target used them to recreate the vintage packaging featured in a joint national marketing campaign with Netflix.
In its debut in October, the campaign gave us a glimpse of what’s to come, including sneak peeks of our Glad and Pine-Sol products. The rest remained a mystery until Nov.6 when the full commercial began airing.
Being part of this cultural moment where nostalgia meets storytelling is a meaningful way for us to connect with consumers — Target guests and the legions of “Stranger Things” fans.
