Challenges, Tiers, and Points: Inside Target’s New Gamified Creator Program
FollowTarget recently announced (via its agency, PMA member Acceleration Partners) that it would be changing up its Creator Program. The old program was more or less a traditional affiliate/influencer platform that was based on commissions. The new program will be called Club Target, and it is already getting some industry buzz. While a number of individual brands have moved to similar systems over the last few years, Target is one of the early powerhouse adopters in the U.S. completely transform its creator program.
According to its FAQ, Club Target is a “challenge-based creator program” that will guide creators through “challenges” where they will earn points, unlock tiers, and access rewards. The rewards will include “Gift Cards, program perks, and once eligible, commission on qualifying sales.” Creators will also be able to earn points through referrals.
The FAQ includes a lot of interesting details such as the fact that creators only need to have 500 followers to be eligible. In addition, there will be compliance monitoring that includes “required hashtags,” specifically , “#TargetPartner” at the start of every caption or on-screen text. The site is seemingly platformed on the well-established Duel. The Duel “about us” page markets them as helping scale through “advocates, affiliates, employees and brand ambassadors.”
AdAge repored “Target ends creator affiliate program.” We asked PMA members for their take on whether this represents an evolution of affiliate marketing, influencer marketing, or something altogether new.
Sofia Longo, Partnerships Team Lead at Alta Media Partners: “Gamification is the latest tactic brands are using to engage affiliates. Contests, giveaways, and exclusive closed channels like Discord or WhatsApp are how brands on TikTok keep their TikTok Shop creators consistently producing content that drives GMV. Traditional retailers are pushing a similar approach. Target sunsetting its Creator Program and launching a game-like affiliate system built around challenges and rewards, open to creators with as few as 500 social media followers, is a clear signal of the growing value of micro-creators. When brands engage with their creators consistently, gamified programs can turn into revenue driving content engines”
Ayush Khare, Founder and CEO at Cubetick: “I think it’s a smart move from Target. Gamifying entry while keeping trackable links and storefronts means they’re scaling creator volume without reinventing the affiliate infrastructure underneath — best of both worlds if it works. The community mobilization angle makes sense too given where social algorithms are heading. Engaged nano-creators who are already brand fans will always outperform cold placements. What I’m curious about is the complexity this adds — managing tiered points, gift card redemptions, and commission eligibility across thousands of creators sounds like a significant workflow challenge. Would love to know how they’re solving that behind the scenes.”
Patricia Marange, Industry Veteran: “Target is not ending their creator affiliate program. From the publicly available information I’ve read, this is an evolution and re-platforming, but it is still very much a creator affiliate program. It’s very forward-thinking of Target to open up their program to smaller creators and is a trend we can expect to see brands continue to adopt.”
While there are similarities to affiliate marketing and influencer marketing specifically (commissions for some sales based on tracking links, minimum requirement counts to join, rewards for exposure, referral rewards, tiers for increased participation), gamification obviously adds a completely different layer. In addition, the “education” part is primarily about how the system works and how to use the hashtags as opposed to traditional affiliate education, tracking links, attribution, etc.
In the new era of TikTok Shop, Facebook Affiliate, and emerging social commerce opportunities, it will be interesting to see how they all play out!
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