THE CHALLENGE

With new ways to shop, insanely fast delivery, and over a half billion items online, Walmart had transformed into an innovation power house, hiding in plain sight.
The problem? No one knew.

Consumers knew Walmart for groceries and low prices, but few realized the brand had evolved. The world’s biggest retailer was stuck in a false familiarity loop perpetuated by “Amazon Addicts.” 

We needed a way to drive reappraisal, shock Amazon loyalists with the “new” Walmart and evoke real, “Who knew?” reactions.

THE INSIGHT

No one trusts a brand like they trust random people on the internet.

When consumers want honest, unfiltered product advice, they turn to Reddit. The platform’s unique and dedicated community of real people — Redditors — verify, vet, and upvote, every post and reco.

THE EXECUTION

Walmart 🤝 Reddit
a first of its kind partnership

 Walmart and Reddit teamed up for more than just an ad buy. We used real recos, from real Redditors and subreddits in an multi-platform blitz.

Our ads featured real quotes from real Redditors and the subreddits where they appeared, as the ultimate upvote.

We shared what the Reddit community already knew about surprising Walmart finds, exclusive brands, unique product categories and Walmart+ perks.

And in an even bigger first for Reddit, we brought their knowledge offline and outside.

Reddit’s recos ran in high impact DOOH across 10 markets—including a take over of NYC’s Penn Station. Yep, Walmart & Reddit brought the opinions of the internet’s most discerning community to the world’s most judgmental commuters.  And the two brands stood out as networked, innovative leaders.

THE RESULTS

Genuine voices > Brand messaging

Together Walmart and Reddit broke category norms by leaning into this truth: no one trusts a trillion dollar company as much as they trust a random person on the internet.