Name: John Hobson
Job: Manager, Online Advertising, Target.com
Date of Hire: September 2002
Previous Job: Manager, Online Advertising, Fingerhut

Target’s program is powered by LinkShare and earns affiliates 5 to 7 percent on purchases based on volume. The program currently has a 10 percent commission offer for October 1 to December 31.

DIANE ANDERSON: How did you come into the world of affiliate marketing?

JOHN HOBSON: Fingerhut was an early adopter of affiliate marketing. Commission Junction was started in Minneapolis, and Fingerhut was part of the early days. When I joined Fingerhut the program was in place, so our team expanded the CJ program and then added Dynamic Logic (Performics) to the mix.

DA: What is the best thing about Target’s program?

JH: The Target program continues to evolve and change with our business. These changes allow us to continually update our program to better serve our affiliates.

DA: How many people work on it?

JH: There is one full-time person committed to the program and two supporting team members that dedicate a portion of their time to the program.

DA: Why should affiliates work with you?

JH: The power of the Target brand coupled with strong site promotions and an aggressive commission structure should result in increased revenue for the affiliates. Also, we are listening to what our affiliate partners are suggesting and want to create lasting partnerships. This is evident by the updates we have made over the past year. Keep the suggestions coming!

DA: How many active affiliates do you have?

JH: Can’t disclose.

DA: How often do you update creative?

JH: We have great promotions on our site that update as frequently as weekly. We update our creative to reflect these site promotions. We also have a standard, more general set of creative that is updated every two to three months.

DA: What sorts of promotions do you run?

JH: Target.com has a very robust promotional calendar that includes free shipping and percentage off offers. The affiliate program supplements this with activation campaigns, stretch-goal campaigns and category-specific campaigns for increased commissions.

DA: What sorts of sites should think about affiliating with you?

JH: Being a general retailer with such a selection of products allows us to appeal to a wide variety of affiliates. I think coupon and deal sites do really well with us because of our aggressive pricing. Target.com carries products that appeal to a wide spectrum of customers on affiliate sites. The key is for us to work closely with the affiliate site to get the right messaging and creative in front of their customers.

DA: What do you do to help boost conversion rates?

JH: Supporting our strong site-promotion schedule with appropriate banners and text links for affiliates as well as providing affiliates with information on best sellers in each category help boost conversion rates.

DA: What accomplishment at Target are you most proud of?

JH: Within two months of starting, we launched Target’s first affiliate program in time for Q4.

DA: What trends do you see in the industry for 2005?

JH: Continued growth. I see more and more great affiliates popping up each year with new and unique business models that keep pushing the affiliate space. For as much controversy as some of the business models cause, I appreciate the innovativeness.

DA: What will be the hottest products in 2005 that your affiliates should think of promoting?

JH: We have some fantastic new products in our Home category. The merchants have a great eye for new furnishing items. We are also expanding our Gift category to include some very unique, global items that will be exclusive to Target.com. And as always, our Electronics department will be carrying the latest in cool gadgets.

DA: What advice do you give your affiliates?

JH: The two biggest tips that I can give our affiliates are: Read our weekly news- letters to make sure you are up to date with the latest site promotions, hottest selling items and any changes to our program; and continue to give us feedback. We want to hear from you and hear your suggestions. One of the toughest problems we are currently having is how to best communicate with affiliates. Email newsletters are a great way to share a large amount of information with everyone, but affiliates receive emails from each of their merchants making it difficult to cut through the email clutter. I can’t imagine being an affiliate and reading every single merchant newsletter. In the next year we will be testing a number of new communication tools, but I would enjoy hearing from more affiliates regarding this issue and their suggestions.

DA: What’s getting heavy rotation on your iPod?

JH: Sting and John Mayer are staples. Current heavy rotation includes Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Spymob and Switchfoot.

DA: Where do you live?

JH: Minneapolis, Minn.

DA: Who do you live with?

JH: I live by myself.

DA: What is your most treasured possession?

JH: I don’t really have a most treasured possession, but if I had to pick I would most likely say a collection of items that were left to me by my grandparents (books, mementos, etc.).

DA: Which person currently living do you most admire?

JH: My sister.

DA: Which person currently living do you most despise?

JH: Really depends on the day. Most days it is that really slow driver in the left lane holding up traffic.

DA: How would you like to die?

JH: Peacefully after a long and fulfilling life.

DIANE ANDERSON is an editor at Brandweek. She was the managing editor of Revenue Magazine for Issue 4 and she previously worked for the Industry Standard, HotWired and Wired News.