Smile and say Giada

There’s a lot to like about Target’s newest merchandising initiative with celebrity chef and Food network personality Giada De Laurentiis, who also will serve as a spokesperson for the company. For starters, her bubbly personality, good looks, accessible cooking style and professional accomplishments make her a perfect fit to represent the Target brand, as her personal brand dovetails with the aspirations of Target’s female customers. After all, there is a reason fellow food network alum and the decidedly less glamorous, although perhaps more popular, Paula Deen opted to put her likeness on cookware products sold at Walmart.

Giada’s line of cookware and specialty food items is intended to pair utility with great design and affordability, which tends to be the classic Target strategy with these sort of celebrity deals. The assortment ranges from kitchen gear, such as cookware, ceramic bakeware and kitchen tools, to pasta sauces and flavored coffees and even a stainless steel pannini grill. Prices range from $6.99 for a nylon spoon with a stainless steel handle to $199.99 for a triple ply clad cookset that includes 8-inch and 9.5-inch open saute pans, 1-quart, 2-quarter and 3-quart sauce pans and a 5-quarter dutch oven.

According to Target, the collection captures Giada’s signature style with a fresh, modern twist on the tools, gadgets and food needed to make easy and affordable meals every day.

“The products I’ve designed for this line are essential in my own kitchen, and now, through my partnership with Target, at-home cooks will be able to make effortless meals affordably,” according to De Laurentiis.