The beginning of the school is a busy time for Target, and the major retailer wants to ensure college freshman head to the red bull’s-eye when it’s time to outfit their dorm rooms. To that end, it has partnered with a quartet of YouTube content creators, who serve as the stars of a new web series titled Best Year Ever.
Best Year Ever is essentially a short-form version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Each episode features some incoming freshmen, designer Veronica Valencia, and one of four featured YouTubers: Todrick Hall, Anneorshine, Mikey Bolts, and iHasCupquake. The assembled group gallivants around Target in search of must-have items for the fall. Unlike some other branded web series, Best Year Ever makes a concerted effort to feature the specific personalities of its charismatic stars. For instance, in one short video, Hall sashays through the aisles while singing a song about Target.
Subscribe to get the latest creator news
Hall’s Best Year Ever episodes will be the first ones to see release on Target’s YouTube channel, with the other three YouTubers’ respective contributions following right behind. The complete set of 16 episodes (four for each YouTuber) will be available on August 14th, arriving just in time for move-in day.
Target put together Best Year Ever for exactly the reasons you’d expect. In a nutshell: Teens are the target “going off to college” audience, those teens turn to YouTube for much of their entertainment, and the popular stars Target has enlisted all have more than a million subscribers on YouTube. “YouTube celebrities have a built-in fan base and get a ton of exposure,” said Target SVP of brand and category marketing Rick Gomez, “To engage the millennial guest, we need to be part of the ongoing conversation.”
The last time Target worked with the YouTube community was Bullseye University, a live stream event that featured Chester See, Magic of Rahat, Dodger, and others. This time around, Target hopes Best Year Ever has a more “sustaining” impact. While they’ve chosen the right stars for that job, extending Best Year Ever‘s influence beyond the back-to-school rush will be a tall task.
