Target hires Google retail exec to head media business

Nearly a year after the former head of Roundel, Target’s internal media business, decamped for competitor Bed Bath & Beyond, her replacement has been found. Target said today that Sarah Travis will join the company as president of Roundel, effective Sept. 13. Travis most recently held the post of managing director of retail at Google, where she worked for 13 years. At Target, she’ll report to Cara Sylvester, who was named exec VP and chief marketing and digital officer earlier this year, replacing Rick Gomez, who was promoted to chief food and beverage officer at the Minneapolis-based retail chain. Subscribe to Ad Age now for the latest industry news and analysis. Kristi Argyilan, who helped create Roundel during her six-year tenure at Target, left the company last October to join Bed Bath & Beyond as senior VP of brand innovation. Target was one of the earliest retailers to begin monetizing its first-party data for advertisers. Five years ago, it opened up its platform beyond Target vendors to national advertisers—the platform was rebranded under the new name Roundel in 2019. It’s a formula that many other retailers, including CVS, Walgreens and Best Buy have replicated by rolling out their own media networks in recent years. Last year, Forrester forecast the growth of marketers becoming media players as a key trend—that prediction has come to fruition with the recent retail roll-outs. Target says it has invested in Roundel in recent years by adding offerings around programmatic advertising, new self-service performance management tools for brands and closed-loop measurement. The retailer says Roundel has “outpaced its revenue goals” in the last two years. Subscribe to Ad Age now for the latest industry news and analysis. Travis’ hire comes on the heels of another quarter of stellar earnings for Target, which has seen sales skyrocket during the pandemic. Last week, the chain reported same-store sales growth of 9%. Total revenue topped $25 billion, a 10% rise over the year-earlier period, as consumers gravitated toward the brand’s back-to-school merchandise. Analysts expect new retail partners including Ulta Beauty and an expanded Disney shop-in-shop store strategy to continue the growth.

Target hires Google retail exec to head media business

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