Rabbit stars in Target holiday promo - Target Stores Inc., Velveteen Rabbit

Discount Store News, Oct 16, 1989

Rabbits Stars in Target Holiday Promo

MINNEAPOLIS - A Velveteen Rabbit plush toy, patterned after a childhood story book figure of the same name, will be the central theme of Target's Christmas promotion for 1989.

The promotion should break in all 401 Target stores the Sunday before Thanksgiving, said John Pellegrene, senior vice president for marketing.

The Christmas promotion takes its cue from the classic children's tale, "The Velveteen Rabbit," written by Margery Williams and published in 1922.

Stars in the lineup of some 50 licensed products in the Christmas promotion will be two sizes of Velveteen Rabbits peeking out of Christmas stockings. Target will offer them for $10 and $5, the same prices as last year's Christmas plush, Tweaks, which was a mouse whose ears squeaked when squeezed.

The line also features special Random House editions of the book, in hard and soft cover and board for infants, videotapes of "The Velveteen Rabbit," featuring the narration of Meryl Streep and the lighted-hearted piano "noodling" of George Winston (who plays the piano in Peanuts TV features), cassette tapes, and compact disks of a special song commissioned around the main message of the tale, "Love Makes You Real."

In addition, Target will offer tree ornaments, mugs, stationery, sleepwear, bath towels, sheet sets and matching comforters, maternity clothes, infants accessories and apparel, potpourri and music boxes, all based on the rabbit theme, Pellegrene said.

This is the first time Target has developed a product line around its Christmas plush, Pellegrene said. In 1988, Target took the first tentative step, offering an activity book to go with its Christmas plush, Tweaks.

"This year's Christmas promotion will offer high-quality, beautifully designed products related the Velveteen Rabbit story - products you can't find anywhere else," Pellegrene said in a release.

The licenser is Rabbit Ears, a Los Angeles production company that produces video and cassette tapes of Hollywood stars reading children's classics.

In hard cover, the book will sell for $9.99 and $4.99 in soft cover. The board edition will be priced at $2.99.

Compact disks and cassettes will be priced at $9.99 apiece, Pellegrene said, while a combined offer of a video and the hardcover edition will be priced at $12.99.

The genesis of the Velveteen Rabbit promotion was an animated walk-through exhibit that Pellegrene developed when he headed promotion for Dayton Hudson, parent of Target.

As part of its promotion, Target engaged Amy Grant, a pop Christian vocalist, to sing her song, "Love Makes You Real", for both television commercials and the CD.

For instore promotion, Target has printed the Velveteen Rabbit theme on 20 million shopping bags, Pellegrene said, and will tell the story on an institutional gatefold in 30 million circulars.

Target expects to sell 2 million of the plush rabbits, compared to 1.2 million units of the Tweaks mouse last Christmas, but Pellegrene said he cannot readily estimate the dollar volume that the Velveteen Rabbit line will generate.

PHOTO : Vocalist Amy Grant sings theme song for Velveteen Rabbit promo.