Category: Titanium and Integrated
Advertiser: WALMART
Product/Service: WALMART
Agency: THE MARTIN AGENCY
Chief Creative Officer: John Norman (The Martin Agency)
Executive Creative Director: Joe Alexander (The Martin Agency)
Creative Director: Vanessa Fortier (The Martin Agency)
ACD/Art Director: Matt Davis (The Martin Agency)
ACD/Art Director: John Szalay (The Martin Agency)
ACD/Art Director: Sissy Estes (The Martin Agency)
Art Director: Tara Gorman (The Martin Agency)
ACD/Writer: Trent Patterson (The Martin Agency)
Writer: Deric Nance (The Martin Agency)
Writer: Bob Meagher (The Martin Agency)
Writer: Sarah Kuhs (The Martin Agency)
VP/Agency Producer: Steve Humble (The Martin Agency)
Agency Producer: Christne Gilmartin (The Martin Agency)
Agency Producer: Christina Cairo (The Martin Agency)
Agency Producer: Pamela Mahan (The Martin Agency)
Media placement: TV Campaign - 35 Spots - Network, Cable, Syndication - April-Dec, 2011
Media placement: Print - 4 Executions - Local Newspapers - April, May, June, July
Media placement: OOH - 4 Executions - Local Billboards - July-Nov, 2011
Media placement: POS - In Store - April-Dec, 2011
Media placement: Radio - 20 Executions - National And Local - April-Dec, 2011
Media placement: Online - 35 Spots - YouTube, Facebook - April-Dec, 2011
Describe the campaign/entry
At the beginning of 2011, Walmart had a big problem. Sales were down with no sign of improving, and more importantly, people had forgotten about the core principle Walmart was founded on: low prices, every day on everything. We had to remind them.
Shopping can be voyeuristic, if you peek into other people’s carts. Why is that guy buying that stuff? Why is she buying that? Inside every cart there’s a story. This little insight led us to an interesting campaign idea. Start with a riddle. On a conveyor belt at Walmart we see the items someone is buying. And then we see why, or how they use those items in humorous situations.
Describe how the campaign/entry was launched across each channel in the order of implementation
As part of the campaign, we did a complete graphic makeover. First we created a graphic shopping cart icon that held all the campaign elements together, especially in-store. Second, we launched the TV nationally - 35 commercials in all - driving traffic on a large scale. We supplemented with print, radio, outdoor and digital in select markets. And all TV was shared and pushed on YouTube and Facebook.
Give some idea of how successful this campaign/entry was with both client and consumer
Since the campaign launched, Walmart’s Facebook fans went from around 3m to over 14m. This campaign can’t take full credit for all of those fans, but it did account for over 6m online views and changing a lot of people’s perceptions about the world’s largest retailer. And the best news? Walmart’s sales went up for the first time in 2 years.