Getting friendly for charity

Who knew Target had so many Facebook fans? This week the retailer invited all 725,000 of them to participate in a charity-driven, viral-marketing effort called Super Love Sender. The premise works like this, visitors to Target’s Facebook page can upload a personal photo and customize one of three Valentine’s Day, football-inspired video cards. They can send as many as 10 per day, and, when they do so, one of five charities is selected and receives one point. At the end of the promotion on Feb. 14, the charities receive a portion of a $1 million that corresponds to the percentage of points received.

“We designed Super Love Sender to be a fun, interactive and viral giving campaign that has the power to positively impact the educational programming of these five deserving charities,” said Laysha Ward, Target’s president of community relations.

Participating charities included, Kids In Need Foundation, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, The Salvation Army, United Through Reading Military Program, United Way.