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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Company Overview ......................................................................................................................... 3

Target Audience: ............................................................................................................................. 4

Campaign Theme, Objectives & Goals ............................................................................................ 6

Campaign Message Profile .............................................................................................................. 7

Customer Engagement Plan ............................................................................................................ 8

Creative Concepts ........................................................................................................................... 9

Instagram Post ...................................................................................................................................................... 9

Facebook advertising ........................................................................................................................................ 10

Twitter Post ......................................................................................................................................................... 10

References .................................................................................................................................... 11

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COMPANY OVERVIEW Marketside is a private brand extension of Wal-Mart, composed of fresh food products

sold within store locations. Originally branded as small, local grocery stores located throughout

Southwestern US states, Marketside is now a brand of its own, providing food products ranging

in fruits and vegetables and related products, meat products, bread and bakery, and frozen

goods (Durham, n.d.).

With consumers growing more concerned about their health, wholesome, natural,

unprocessed foods are becoming more prevalent and a purchase-of-choice for many consumers

(Nielsen, 2015). However, healthy, natural foods often come with a premium label, which

means a more expensive price tag. With the income gap as it is, and high-profile celebrities

working to minimize the food gap currently, it is a prime time for Wal-Mart to promote their

Marketside brand as an affordable means for consumers to obtain healthy foods without

breaking their budget (Chicago Booth Review, 2018).

Walmart's outreach efforts have previously focused on their competitive pricing,

keeping alignment with their past and present taglines “low prices, always” and “Save Money.

Live Better” (Kung, 2014) Their food products, however, have not had the best reputation

regarding quality and nutrition (Hill, 2015). Marketside offers an opportunity to reinvent

consumer connotations of Walmart's food products while maintaining alignment with current

outreach efforts by focusing on providing natural, fresh food at affordable prices.

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TARGET AUDIENCE: The Marketside brand aims to bring fresh, affordable food to Walmart consumers.

According to Kanatar Retail’s Shopperscale, the typical Walmart customer is a 51-year-old white

female, with an annual household income of $56k, with millennials making up the second

largest generation of Walmart shoppers (Peterson, 2016). Because Walmart has an established

customer base with older generations, this campaign will seek to target millennial shoppers.

The Millennial generation is composed of individuals aged 22-37 years in 2018

(Dimmock, 2018). Making up about 25% of the global population, this generation currently has

the most buying power in the market (Krasniak, 2017). This is a large portion of the population

who, as can be seen in the chart above, prefer to shop at stores other than Walmart, such as

Target and Family Dollar.

Additionally, millennials are known as the "foodie generation," as society's fascination

with food and beverage increased as millennials came of age (Modos, 2017). Millennials' power

over food and interest in natural, fresh products, as can be seen with the tripling of organic

food sales over the past decade, make this demographic a prime target for Walmart's

Marketside promotional campaign (Modos 2017).

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While both male and female shoppers will be targeted, this campaign will place an

emphasis on millennial women, as females are typically a household's primary grocery shopper

(Peterson, 2016). A detailed customer profile example follows:

CUSTOMER PROFILE

Demographics: Female, 28-34 years old

Description: Full-time, middle class, working

mother, seeking to provide a healthy, happy life

for her family. Financial security is crucial to her

goals. She knows Walmart to be affordable, but

assumes products are of lower quality compared

to other stores. Walmart is not her store of

choice but will shop on occasion for household

goods.

Media: Budget-friendly, healthy, and easy-to-make recipes are a top search in this customer's

Google search history. Short videos on social media, blog posts and short articles are preferred

media options.

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CAMPAIGN THEME, OBJECTIVES & GOALS

THEME

The theme of this campaign is Marketside. Market Fresh. Outreach and creative content

will emphasize the quality, freshness, and affordability of Marketside products. The tone of this

campaign will mirror's Walmart's casual tone, adding a sense of resourcefulness to differentiate

from current outreach efforts. The theme and tonality of communication efforts will help the

meet the campaign objectives and goals.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the campaign is to raise consumer awareness of what Marketside is and

what it offers to the market. While many consumers associate Walmart with affordability,

quality is not fully associated with the brand (Hill, 2015). Positioning Marketside as a high-

quality brand extension of Walmart showcases the organization as able to meet growing

consumer demands and attentive market listeners. Thus, three specific outcomes of this

campaign are:

1) Raise awareness of the Marketside products.

2) Increase trust in Wal-Mart fresh products

3) Change perception of Wal-Mart goods.

GOAL

The goal of this campaign is to convince millennial viewers to purchase Marketside

products to increase Walmart’s market share of millennial spending. Because the campaign is

based on social media, social sharing related actions will be encouraged via communication

efforts, as conversation monitoring will be crucial to measuring campaign objectives and

gaining deeper insight into the millennial consumer’s desires.

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CAMPAIGN MESSAGE PROFILE

In building awareness, this campaign seeks to inform the audience of Marketside

products, influence consumer’s perception of Walmart goods, and ultimately persuade

audience members to purchase Marketside products. Each message will align with the

campaign theme, utilizing hashtags and taglines that relate directly to Marketside. Market

Fresh. Additional reference will be made to the latter half of Walmart’s current slogan; “Save

Better. Live Better,” helping to align the Marketside brand with its parent company and

consumer desires to live healthier, better lives.

The following are examples of campaign-related phrases that can be used on its own or

in conjunction with another phrase.

#marketsidemarketfresh or

#marketside #marketfresh

“Marketside makes living better, easier.”

“Fresh food, always.”

“Market fresh has never been so easy.”

“Marketside. On your side.”

The purpose of each outreach will be to convey the message that healthy eating does

not need to be determined by a consumer’s social status, and that Marketside by Walmart can

help provide healthy options for consumers of all budgets.

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CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT PLAN Because this campaign aims to promote brand awareness and customer trust, it is

recommended that marketing initiatives last over the course of a year. As health concerns are

expected to continuously impact customer purchases throughout 2018 and into 2019, this year

is ideal to launch this campaign, as communication efforts and the Marketside brand align with

consumer desires.

To best reach the millennial generation, this campaign will be primarily based on social

media platforms, utilizing a variety of paid, owned, and earned media outlets (Krasniak 2017).

To focus communication efforts, specific mediums will be targeted including Facebook and

Twitter advertisements and Instagram posts. Supporting content should be generated,

including a series of blog posts (sponsored and user-generated), landing pages, and short

promotional videos.

Metrics of the social media campaign will be gaged periodically to measure audience

engagement, including impressions, post interaction (likes and comments), click-through-rates,

and number of hashtag hits. Sales of Marketside products will be recorded before, during, and

after the campaign, and compared for analysis to identify causality. Consumer surveys will also

be administered before and after the campaign to measure brand awareness, and to identify

the strengths and weaknesses of the marketing initiatives.

Examples of creative concepts for this campaign follow, including Instagram, Facebook

and Twitter posts. The Instagram and Facebook posts are visual, with vibrant colors of fresh

fruit; the Twitter post is a quick dinner recipe for target audience member scrolling through

their feeds. Links on the Instagram and Facebook posts should redirect viewers to related blog

posts on the Walmart website.

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CREATIVE CONCEPTS

INSTAGRAM POST

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FACEBOOK ADVERTISING

TWITTER POST

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REFERENCES

Chicago Booth Review. (2018, February 16). Higher income, healthier groceries. Retrieved

March 07, 2018, from http://review.chicagobooth.edu/marketing/2018/article/higher-

income-healthier-groceries

Dimock, M. (2018, March 01). Defining generations: Where Millennials end and post-Millennials

begin. Retrieved March 07, 2018, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-

tank/2018/03/01/defining-generations-where-millennials-end-and-post-millennials-

begin/

Durham, C. (n.d.). Marketside private brands take shape at Walmart. Retrieved March 07, 2018,

from http://mypbrand.com/2010/01/11/marketside-private-brands-take-shape-at-

walmart/

Hill, C. (2015, February 21). 4 reasons Walmart is the most-hated retailer in America. Retrieved

March 07, 2018, from https://www.marketwatch.com/story/4-reasons-walmart-is-the-

most-hated-retailer-in-america-2015-02-18#false

Krasniak, M. (2017, January 31). Reaching millennials With social media: new research.

Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/reaching-

millennials-with-social-media-new-research/

Kung, M. (2007, September 13). Wal-Mart shelves old slogan after 19 years. Retrieved March

07, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/13/walmart-shelves-old-

sloga_n_64289.html

http://review.chicagobooth.edu/marketing/2018/article/higher-income-healthier-grocerieshttp://review.chicagobooth.edu/marketing/2018/article/higher-income-healthier-grocerieshttp://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/defining-generations-where-millennials-end-and-post-millennials-begin/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/defining-generations-where-millennials-end-and-post-millennials-begin/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/defining-generations-where-millennials-end-and-post-millennials-begin/http://mypbrand.com/2010/01/11/marketside-private-brands-take-shape-at-walmart/http://mypbrand.com/2010/01/11/marketside-private-brands-take-shape-at-walmart/https://www.marketwatch.com/story/4-reasons-walmart-is-the-most-hated-retailer-in-america-2015-02-18#falsehttps://www.marketwatch.com/story/4-reasons-walmart-is-the-most-hated-retailer-in-america-2015-02-18#falsehttps://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/reaching-millennials-with-social-media-new-research/https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/reaching-millennials-with-social-media-new-research/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/13/walmart-shelves-old-sloga_n_64289.htmlhttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/13/walmart-shelves-old-sloga_n_64289.html

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Modos, Alyssa. (2017, August 30). Your food Is changing radically, and millennials are proudly

taking the blame. Retrieved March 07, 2018, from

https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/millennials-are-the-foodie-generation-and-here-

the-evidence

Nielsen. (2015, January). We are what we eat: healthy eating trends around the world [PDF].

Retrieved March 07, 2018 from

https://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/nielsenglobal/eu/nielseninsights/pdfs/Nielsen%

20Global%20Health%20and%20Wellness%20Report%20-%20January%202015.pdf

Peterson, H. (2016, October 07). This is what the average Walmart shopper looks like. Retrieved

March 07, 2018, from http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-shopper-

demographics-2016-10

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