Walmart

Walmart’s brand promise, “Save Money. Live Better.” emphasizes Walmart’s famous low prices while shifting the focus beyond price to the emotional benefits of shopping at Walmart. Saving money is just the beginning – with those savings, Walmart helps customers live a better life.

The right colors have a direct impact on how people feel and behave. One powerful change was to update Walmart’s color palette to signal the desired experience. Uninspired grey walls give way to vibrant yellow, green and orange in the grocery department, signaling Walmart’s fresh, appetizing offerings.

It was critical to translate the Walmart brand into all aspects of the in-store experience. By widening aisles, removing any obstacles to clean shopping, and simplifying aisle signs, Walmart better delivers on its goal of making it as easy as possible for customers to access savings.

Walmart stores were transformed by a new color palette full of vibrant yellow and orange that serve to energize shoppers and make the store feel warm, friendly and approachable. Updating the store color palette while maintaining a utilitarian feel re-engages customers without detracting from Walmart’s image as the lowest-cost retailer.

The new logo represents both the spark of inspiration within Walmart to save customers money so they can live better and the spark of inspiration customers feel when they shop at Walmart. Walmart uses store signage to activate the logo and start to build customer affinity and association with the spark.

New lifestyle imagery throughout the store helps form an emotional connection with customers and activates the “Live Better” concept, serving as a visual reminder of how savings can be applied and bringing brand values.

Blue is an integral part of the Walmart visual identity, and communicates an image of friendly, approachable, reliable, and trustworthy. “Brand blue” permeates the store, providing a proprietary branded customer experience that can be consistently replicated across the store network.

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Analytics

Sparking big changes at the world's leading retailer

Saving money and living better

Capabilities utilized:
Brand assessment
Brand positioning
Brand identity
Logo design
Retail design
Brand management

Since its first store opened in 1962, Walmart has grown rapidly from its roots in rural America to urban and suburban communities in the US and abroad. Delivering on a basic promise to provide every day low prices has made Walmart the most successful retailer in the world. In order to stay in front and become more relevant to a broader audience, Walmart determined it was necessary to undertake a massive initiative to revitalize its brand.

Updating a classic

The challenge of attracting new customers while retaining loyalists

With almost a million and a half associates in over 4,000 stores, a branding program of this nature is a mammoth undertaking.

As a well-established and highly visible brand, Walmart wished to contemporize its look and feel while building upon the brand equity and values of its legacy and heritage.

To be successful in its repositioning, Walmart had to extend its appeal to a broader audience without losing sight of its core customer base.

Solutions

Revitalizing the brand positioning and store experience retained Walmart’s price leader status while forming a compelling emotional connection with target customers.

Refreshed positioning to shift the focus beyond price to the emotional benefits of shopping at Walmart
Emphasized how smart shopping not only saves money but also enables customers to live better lives, as captured in the new tag line “Save money. Live better.”
Created a new logo and visual system that embodies the Walmart brand attributes and signals the improved experience shoppers and associates can expect: friendly, approachable, warm and reliable
Developed an award-winning “Brand Book” that inspires and enables Walmart associates to be brand ambassadors at every interaction with the shopper
Created an online brand center that serves as a real-time source for viewing and downloading brand guidelines and assets
Translated new Walmart brand into all aspects of the in-store experience, designing new interiors, signage and merchandising displays

Developed and tested prototype retail locations that deliver a more intuitive, consistent shopping experience across multiple departments and in different store formats
Rebranded the home office interiors to motivate associates to “live the brand” and to reinforce the company’s mission throughout the organization

A comprehensive brand update–revised positioning, tag line, in-store experience, and internal brand resources–drives a more emotional connection with customers.

Results

Walmart kickstarts new growth and energizes its image

The results are evident in Walmart’s refreshed image and improved connection with customers.

Walmart's performance on key brand attributes is improving. Between 2008 and 2010, ratings for how “fast,” “friendly,” and “clean” Walmart is increased significantly.

Additionally, the company maintained traffic from core customers while growing traffic by approximately 7% from customers with incomes above $75,000 – an underrepresented customer segment for Walmart prior to the brand revitalization.

before

after

In the press

Supermercado de Walmart Wins Retail Store of the Year
- March 1, 2010
Supermercado de Walmart won Chain Store Age’s Retail Store of the Year in the supermarket category.
Walmart’s Unifying Store Experience
- October 29, 2008
USA Today reports on Walmart’s new, unified store experience. Aside from the redesigned logo, Walmart stores will feature an innovative design that is intended to render their experience more enjoyable, with higher ceilings, lower shelves, wider aisles and a softer color palette.