New York City is home to the Thanksgiving Day Parade where thousands of people gather during the holidays. We wanted to capitalize off of that huge crowd. To get their attention we staged a stunt everyone would talk about. We hired the world’s most famous illusionist, David Blaine and presented him with his most difficult challenge yet. He would be shackled five stories above Times Square, forced to endure the elements without food or water, and rotating constantly. If he escaped in time for Target’s sale he could take 100 needy kids on the shopping spree of their lives.

The response was not only overwhelming but unprecedented. The event blew away Target’s record-setting figures from the previous year. Sales this year climbed 5.9% higher, setting a new record. It was Target’s biggest holiday sales season ever. Target.com reported 5 million visits to the 2-Day Sale webpage which featuring video of Blaine’s stunt, more than doubling previous season’s hits. And because of David Blaine’s fan base, the event garnered unpaid media attention from nearly every major news network and dozens of local news programs. In total, 1,000 stories worldwide were devoted to Target and David Blaine.