Photo: Walmart
Will Celebrity Shopping Carts Drive Some Buzz for Walmart?
Taking celebrity endorsements to another realm, Walmart is showcasing the shopping carts of Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, multi-platinum recording artist Becky G, and fictional celebrity Barbie as part of a new “Welcome to Your Walmart” campaign.
In a blog entry, Casey Schlaybaugh, VP of brand strategy & marketing, said the online campaign “gives our customers an up close and personal way to connect with their favorite celebrities and shop customized carts full of their most-loved items.”
The campaign includes long-form, two-minute-plus views into the family lives and hobbies of the stars. It also includes TV, digital, and paid and organic social support.
In the “Welcome To Patrick’s Walmart” video, the two-time Super Bowl MVP discusses his approach to golf while practicing swings on the putting green. It then goes on to explore how he and his wife, Brittany, entertain their kids in their backyard, and it ends with Mr. Mahone walking his dog. Products on his online shopping cart page include golf merchandise, backyard toys (including a bubble machine), recovery gear, and dog treats.
Becky G’s video showcases some items she’s planning to buy as she heads on her first headlining tour this fall across the U.S., how she hosts family and friends at home, and why she carries a “mom bag” even though she isn’t a mom. Her shopping cart page highlights noise-canceling headphones, an incense set, as well as her favorite fitness gear and kitchen items. With 37 million Instagram followers, Becky G will also be holding a livestream shopping in partnership with Walmart.
Barbie’s video plays up her infatuation with the sport of pickleball as well as some wardrobing and entertaining tips, with products on her shopping cart page aligned with those activities. Ms. Schlaybaugh told AdAge that Walmart plans to extend the campaign in coming seasons with other celebrities playing up Walmart’s wide product range. Ms. Schlaybaugh said, “This was really born out of the idea that Walmart is the store that has the thing for you, however you need it.”
Discussion Questions
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: What do you think of the “Welcome to Your Walmart” campaign featuring a peak into the daily lives and go-to favorite products of celebrities? Do celebrity shopping carts point to a bigger opportunity around celebrity endorsements?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
This campaign brings a nice touch of personalization and intrigue to Walmart. People naturally have a curiosity about celebrities, and folding in a fictional character adds some cheeky humor to the campaign.
Agreed, it is a great balance of leveraging curiosity and using fictional characters to drive the products they want to drive. Not sure what the royalty cost will be for the Celebrities and if the Celebrities will be getting additional endorsement fees. Great day to be a Celebrity.
This campaign feels like it is going to have enormous magnetic pull across several demographics. Brilliant. Genius. And it tee’s up a platform for an ongoing series of celebrities to participate. This is a differentiator. This has legs.
I don’t see any harm but awareness is key. Hitting walmart.com, the campaign isn’t front and center (where is it?). No longer limited to niche product licensing plays, celebrity marketing is in full saturation mode. Barbie is the embodiment of the trend and I haven’t seen anything like Mattel’s recent multi-channel full-court press.
You almost need a translator for PR-speak: “gives our customers an up close and personal way to connect with their favorite celebrities and shop customized carts full of their most-loved items.” I’m totally expecting to see Barbie shopping for little plastic shoes on my next trip to Walmart. I also love that the ads don’t show any of these celebrities in an actual Walmart. Don’t they know how easy it is to use AI to make believe they actually shop there?
Okay, I’ll put on my retail consultant hat for a minute. Retail is theater, so this is high production value theater. The millions of fans and followers will fall for this. It’s brilliant, and might help further elevate the Walmart brand.
I personally have no interest in the shopping carts of celebrities, but I suspect many others in our pop culture-obsessed society will in fact be influenced by these videos. Hence, it seems like a good tactic to me.
The selection of celebrities is key and needs to be relevant to the Wal-Mart audience. While it seems late to leverage influencers, the campaign does communicate the broad appeal of the retailer and may bring in even more customers. I think Barbie will be the stand out winner, however –personifying a nostagic toy connected to a major movie release will drive interest from new fans to old.
This is a solid campaign from Walmart which will help exposure with younger demographics the company is still chasing and trying to convert. Walmart doesn’t have the best reputation for non-food, even though some of its products are reasonable, so anything that helps to move the dial on this front is welcomed. Of course, the online and in-store experiences need to match with campaigns, but that’s another matter.
Barbie is a marketing juggernaut. The others? Like anyone of any generation think’s celebrities shop at Walmart without being compensated. I don’t know how much play this campaign is going to get but it’s fun. And that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?
How many times do you want to see the same video? Celebrity pictures on shopping carts instead of real estate brokers and insurance agents? I don’t see a long terms advantage, unless different celebrities show up every week.
Amazon has done this for a long time with celebrity shoppable pages on their site – if you can remember how to find them. And Best Buy did this a long time ago (wouldn’t you just want to buy the “Snoop Dogg audio package” for your car rather than selecting all the components yourself?). It comes down to what you really do with it. If it’s just a marketing ploy, that’s all it’ll ever be. If you want it to have impact and drive traffic and sales, then it needs to be everywhere – including featured in stores. What are the odds they execute at that level? Slim to none, I’m thinking.
Mr. Mahomes’ wife’s name is actually Brittany…but I would definitely be interested in what’s in his Walmart cart.
It’s like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous but shoppable and relatable.
Modernizing marketing to reach Gen Zs with trusted influencers can maximize customer lifetime value. Giving a glimpse into the personal lives of sports and media stars makes Walmart cool.
Walmart, Amazon, Shopify and others are partnering with celebrities to speak Gen Z’s language. This cohort lives on TikTok and YouTube, pounces on trends and buys items from Rihanna, Ariana Grande and MrBeast. Celebrity endorsements are powerful sales tools in this age of always-on shoppers.
I love this idea. This is built-in influencer marketing with much more power behind it and a direct line to the conversion step.
The Netflix series, Quaterback, features the inner lives of Patrick Mahomes and two other NFL quarterbacks. It is especially well done. Well beyond my expectations. Despite that, it is “one and done.”
The Walmart campaign is fun and creative. I ask, however, is it “one and done”? For it to have legs, Walmart will need to roll over the celebrities on a regular basis.
Gene,
I agree, but I also have to ask who this campaign is aimed at. If it is designed to amuse existing Walmart shoppers, well and good although, as you point out, then you need to keep a stable of celebs on-hand to hold consumer interest. If it is intended to attract new shoppers … well … let’s just say I don’t think it is going to convert too many non-Walmart shoppers. Does it hurt? Probably not. Does it help? Probably not all that much.
The celebrity and influencer economy is a development that has been around for a while. Walmart and other companies have always leveraged the power of celebrities to enhance their brand positioning and drive new customers to shop in their stores.
There is a fascination with the lives and interests of celebrities. With the power and capabilities that social media platforms such as TikTok provides, Walmart and other companies can capitalize on this theater and storytelling approach to drive shopping experiences.
Celebrity shopping carts are no exception, even if the celebrities never actually step foot into a Walmart.
I think it’s a great way to satisfy the curiosity of celebrity-watchers and ride the Barbie wave, especially if the promos are shoppable.
I like the campaign. In addition, this is a nice way to enhance the local the experience. While Patrick Mahomes is well-know nationally, he’s truly a KC hometown hero. Finding local celebrities could be less money, yet very effective to connect and personalize to the community.
This campaign is charming and pretty relatable, even though the featured celebs are living a vastly different lifestyle than virtually all Walmart customers.
It’s hard for me to shed the cognitive dissonance, though, when I walk into a local store and view the actual shopping experience.
This is a creative idea that will appeal to some shoppers, and scoffed at by others. Bravo, Walmart, for thinking out of the box.
But will WalMart shoppers load up those carts with MMCF clothing ?? Normally I don’t like to mix together topics, but still, I can’t imagine a clearer case of why ‘sustainability’ issues struggle than realizing the same person who yearns to shop with Barbie is also expected to understand, embrace and – even! – demand the former.
As for WalMart: I think this campaign is a perfect match….A +, folks !!
I love this campaign or the commercials at least. Walmart stores image are still built on lower service, low cost image. Using these celebrities raises the Walmart image and the humor plus having celebrities is great plus they have an “everyday” feel even though they are clearly not your average person and don’t live an average lifestyle. Nicely done.
This is a smart way to drive market baskets and cross-category purchase. The fine line here is that the celebs are dipicted in ‘real life’ which gives a feel of authenticity and a peek behind the curtains; something consumers can relate to. Walmart will need to keep this campaign fresh and relevant maximize retail potential.