Joyshop-ar — The Work Lives Here

In a season filled with loud retail noise…

As a retailer, the holiday season is the most important one on the calendar. And while the brand traditionally runs a large sales-driving campaign, Walmart was looking for a fresh way to drive more meaningful connections, engage with customers more deeply & continue to shift the perception that Walmart has stylish, want-worthy items.

…Walmart earned attention by going quiet

Ambient rooms have become an increasingly popular form of entertainment and relaxation for consumers. People put them on in the background to set the mood while prepping or entertaining for the holidays. 54% of Gen Zers and 80% of all YouTube audiences report watching this type of soothing content, with mainstream ambient room content peaking during the holidays.

Background Joys
The first-ever shoppable ambient rooms

In partnership with Google, we created Background Joys – the first ever shoppable ambient rooms to help people relax, vibe out and check a few things off their holiday shopping lists. Each of the four ambient experiences was created around a priority decor or product collection and filled with comforting music, ASMR and calming animations.

The Rooms

The four rooms let people choose the holiday vibe perfect for them—from a relaxing snowy chalet, to a festive holiday party, to a magical flight with Santa’s reindeer stopping at decorated homes along the way. And, as an extension of our broadcast campaign, we created a Gilmore Girls ambient room set in Luke’s iconic Diner. This room (and the active YouTube chat beneath it) catered to a fandom who is seeking out ambient experiences tied to that TV show which peaks with rewatches during Fall and Winter.

The Shopping

Background Joys launched on the primary platform people look for ambient entertainment– YouTube. And we drove to the videos with dynamic content and high-impact placements
via Roku, Hulu and Kerv.

The Joy

While each ambient room was soothing and calm, the fans were not.
They weren’t just entertained, they were in love.

Gilmore Girls for the win!

Especially the Gilmore Girls fandom. So much so, we even launched a surprise 12 hour version of our Christmas at Luke’s Diner room in response to the comments.