Walmart Leans into this Crazy Summer with Camp and Drive-In Movies
The ubiquitous retail giant has always tried to act like the neighborhood store and community partner. The motivations are many, although Walmart has not always embraced the mission. It figures that this crazy summer provides the opportunity for the brand embrace its “local spirit” with summer camp and drive-in movies. Ideas that have made sense and been proposed for years. It only took a global pandemic to finally see them come to life.
Walmart parking lots have long been a PR agency’s creative concept playground. Typically, those ideas wound up parked…in the garbage. This summer, though, the movies are coming to Walmart. The great American drive-in revived with the help of a the omnipresent American retailer. I was excited when Tribeca Enterprises announced its films coming to a broader mainstream audience this May. Now, the picture is coming further into focus.
Walmart will transform 160 parking lots into drive-in theaters for a series running August to October. According to the company’s press release, the experience will also incorporate special appearances, concessions and more, with Tribeca Enterprises as the programming partner:
Beginning in August, Walmart will roll out this red carpet experience in towns across the country for a combined 320 showings. This family-friendly night will include hit movies, special appearances from filmmakers and celebrities and concessions delivered right to customer vehicles.
A placeholder site is up at walmartdrive-in.com, associating the brand with the experience and promising more specific details in the days and weeks to come. Initial coverage references a few classics like Space Jam and Wonder Woman, meant to play to a broad swath of the population.
The second prong of Walmart’s summer marketing effort addresses something on the minds of many American parents: camp. With many a summer camp shut down or otherwise altered on account of COVID-19, the desire and need for creative kid options and outlets remains: enter Walmart’s “virtual summer camp.” Camp by Walmart launches as an online experience and features celebrities like Drew Barrymore, Neil Patrick Harris, LeBron James, Idina Menzel and Todd Oldham.
Hello campers! Join us for a new kind of virtual camp this summer where families can craft, learn magic, and do tons of other fun activities together, hosted by celebrity camp counselors. Come play on the Walmart app (via the Services Tab). #CampByWalmart https://t.co/WhXN1kezA8 pic.twitter.com/6cEQn4GvAF
— Walmart (@Walmart) July 8, 2020
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Smart stuff. Welcome to summer, courtesy of Walmart. And, yes, there are plenty of built-in marketing and sales opportunities with the virtual camp, stocking up for the drive-in and powering the experience along the way.
