• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, July 16, 2013

Target, now in its 12^th year of busing freshmen to nearby Target stores for after-hours shopping trips, is upping its college game this year, creating a four-day reality event at BullseyeUniversity.com.

The effort plants five YouTube stars in five different dorm rooms for four straight days, dishing on all things collegiate. Viewers can ask questions and also shop, dragging the items they see in each different room into their digital shopping cart.

The idea is to show off the Minneapolis-based retailer’s dorm decor in a real-life setting, making it easier to picture how lamps, comforters, chairs and organizers will actually look.

The cast of featured “roommates -- Chester See, Meekakitty (Tessa Violet), Magic of Rahat, Brooke “Dodger” Leigh, and Clothes Encounters (Jenn Im) -- field viewer comments, and live in a fishbowl of 24-hour live streaming for four days. When that gets dull (and really, it will, won’t it?) viewers can move to the Bullseye Lounge and watch workout classes, a magic show, a dance party, a milkshake dunk tank (for the YOLO frat bro, apparently), and concerts. (MTV is bringing four bands to perform live on the final night.)

While the project is drawing a lively stream of comments, from “Where’s Jenn?,” “How do you make the sound work?” and “How can I escape the Freshman 15?” on participants’ YouTube feeds, it’s also attracting hoots and jeers from the less-advertising-friendly college crowd that lives over at Reddit: “Hey, Bullseye University, your crappy ad has broken Southparkstudios. F***  you and your worthless institution, I hope you go bankrupt and are sued by all of your graduates/victims. I won't be happy until I can watch SP again. Also, f*** you.”

Viewers will also have the opportunity to win products and prizes through social media, as well as coupons on the site.  

As part of the experience, the chain says is also constructing five glass dorm rooms on actual campuses -- freestanding, glass-enclosed structures, furnished by Target and occupied by a real live student. A spokesperson tells Marketing Daily the glass rooms are scheduled for Texas A&M;  Auburn; Georgia State; George Mason and UCLA.

For younger children, Target is introducing a new “Kids Got Style” campaign, created with 72 & Sunny, breaking now in a few markets, she says -- and ads are scheduled to begin running nationally July 28. Ads focus on a handful of sartorialists-in-training as they face classic school moments that make them feel like real-life heroes, whether it’s building volcanoes out of broccoli or a solo recorder performance. Ads end with the tagline: “School takes a lot. Target has it all.”

Target is supporting that campaign with an Instagram contest next month: Parents can share pictures of kids strutting their style, using the hashtag #KidsGotStyle and tagging @Target. The store says it will create customized looks inspired by the best photos.