Target Ditches ‘Hot Santa’ for D’Arcy Carden in First Holiday Campaign Under New CEO

Plus, an in-depth look at Target's holiday strategy

Target is taking a new, more focused approach to its marketing this holiday season.

The retailer has debuted “Academy of Giftology,” a holiday campaign aimed at helping customers find gifts they’ll be excited to give and that loved ones will be excited to receive. The idea is to make gift giving more personalized and meaningful.

“This year, what you will see is that we are zoned in, very much focused on the gift giver at the center, solving for the gift giver, making sure that all of our content supports the gift giver, building their confidence,” Michelle Mesenburg, svp and chief brand officer for Target, said in an exclusive interview with ADWEEK.

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Mitchell Parton

Mitchell Parton is ADWEEK's senior commerce reporter, covering retail media as well as the rise of agentic and social commerce. Before joining ADWEEK in 2026, he was a reporter at Digiday Media's Modern Retail and before that wrote for several regional publications in Texas.