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Target's advertising take over of this week's New Yorker seems like a smart move to us at Influx. Although others don't seem so impressed. Take Bryan Curtis over at Slate who wrote.

"Like a lot of new-money arrivistes, Target can make grand gestures, but it gets the details wrong. If Tilly were to have searched the magazine rack of the Brooklyn store on Monday, he would have found People, Time, and New York magazine. And not a single copy of The New Yorker."

Target isn't alone for attracting attention for their off-kilter targeting tactics. Rock bands the Kaiser Chiefs and the Dandy Warhols made or are planning appearances on a morning TV show. Matt Dentler at Indiewire commented on this.

"You know, I thought it was weird when Live with Regis and Kelly featured a musical performance by Brit-rockers Kaiser Chiefs a few weeks ago... but this is definitely bizarre. Psych-garage rock band The Dandy Warhols, known to many film fans as one-half of last year's documentary DIG!, will make an appearance on the morning chatfest September 13."

Let's try and suggest why both these supposedly strange targeting moves make total sense to us.

1.Target- Slate might find it hard to understand why you might advertise in a magazine that isn't sold in your store. However, there are Target shoppers that read the New Yorker; "mavens" who keep spreading the word about the brand and how great it is. Although they make up a tiny fraction of Target's base, they are a critical audience and one could argue their most powerful media. With Wal-Mart getting more competitive, Target needs the help of this audience more than ever.

So why would you not surprise and delight them by taking over the New Yorker?

2. Bands- it's really tough to get radio play for any band today, so to get on a top rated morning show makes sense. You gain exposure an increasingly important and influential adult audience, the folks who actually pay for music. Plus you get marks for irony from the few members of your young adult audience, who might just be watching the morning show as part of their hangover recovery regime.