Sept. 10, 2020
By William White, Chief Marketing Officer, Walmart U.S.
The average family spends 2.5 hours per week shopping. Think about that. That’s a lot of time … 130 hours per year to be exact. When we asked our customers what they would do if we could give them back this time, they unanimously said they’d spend it on the things that really matter to them. Things like family, friends and community. That’s where our new campaign, “A Different Kind of Membership,” begins.
The campaign features 22 families who are as diverse as the customers we serve and, in many ways, represent America – Asian American, Black, Latinx, white and multi-racial families, new and single parents, multigenerational households and families with members with disabilities, for example. It captures a snapshot into their authentic, chaotic and beautiful lives, from everyday moments, like family dinners, to monumental ones, like the homecoming of a newborn baby. It shows how, despite our differences, Walmart+ enables us to do more of what matters most to all of us – spending time with loved ones.
The commercials were created by award-winning husband and wife filmmaking duo, Daniel and Katina Mercadante. Following all COVID-19 safety production protocols, their two-person crew became embedded into the families’ everyday lives and generated over 100 hours of unscripted footage and 30 hours of audio interviews. This resulted in the first documentary-style ad campaign for Walmart.
Our “Different Kind of Membership” campaign is extensive – our biggest of the year – and spans broadcast, digital, social, radio and experiential, with the first 60-second commercial airing during tonight’s football season opener.
But that’s not all. In researching what customers would do with extra time, we also gained valuable insight into the things they miss most from their pre-COVID days. As a result, the campaign goes beyond traditional and digital media with inventive customer activations designed to uplift customers in the wake of canceled or postponed events.
So, as the final part of our Walmart+ campaign, we’re going to “plus up” some of our customers’ most missed moments, making them bigger and better than before. The first “Plus Me Up” experience, to be showcased within NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football, surprises an essential health care worker and their family with an exclusive game day opportunity during a select game this season.
We’ll have more to share on that, and additional activations and branded features, soon.
Time is life’s most precious gift. We all have it, but none of us have enough of it. Our hope is that by being a Walmart+ member, you’re able to spend more time being the most important member – a family member, a community member and a member of humanity.
