Campaign of the Week: Walmart Snapchat Ads Promote Patriotism

Snapchat is becoming an increasingly attractive platform option for advertisers. And during the Olympics, some brands are taking the opportunity to spread messages of patriotism on the platform. One such brand is Walmart, which is using Snapchat ads to promote its renewed commitment to invest in American manufacturing. So just how might this new advertising format impact Walmart? We asked 1,000 respondents on August 11 about their shopping habits and then tested how the ad affected buying decisions.

Big Box Stores

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 4% of respondents said they shop at big box stores or superstores daily. 12% do so a few times per week. 38% shop at big box stores a few times per month. 19% shop there a few times every three months. 11% do so less frequently than once every three months. And 17% said they aren’t big box store consumers.Walmart appears to be the most popular superstore in terms of regular shoppers. 72% of those who shop at superstores said they shop at Walmart regularly. And the next most popular store was Target, which just 37% of respondents said they shop at regularly.

Walmart Snapchat Ads

Overall, 34% of superstore shoppers said they would be certain or practically certain about choosing Walmart the next time they shop at a big box store or superstore. And 29% said it would be very probable. In addition, 14% said they would be practically certain about choosing Target the next time they shop at a big box store. And 20% said it would be very probable.Of those who viewed the Walmart Snapchat ads, 33% said they would be certain or practically certain about choosing Walmart the next time they shop at big box stores. And 29% said it would be very probable. Conversely, just 10% said they would be practically certain about choosing Target. And 20% said it would be very probable. In addition, 21% of those who viewed the ads said they have an account on Snapchat, but those users also weren’t any more likely to say that they’d choose Walmart for their next purchase. However, of those who don’t shop at Walmart regularly, the ad did make them slightly more likely to say they would shop at Walmart.

Brand Characteristics

Overall, it seems that consumers associate Walmart with value and variety. But they tend to see Target as a brand that’s more trendy or popular and one that reflects the kind of person they are. The Snapchat ads didn’t make any significant change in consumers’ opinions about those brand characteristics.

Key Takeaways

The impact on consumers’ opinions about Walmart after viewing the company’s Snapchat ads was negligible. Those who don’t already shop at Walmart regularly were slightly more likely to have a positive reaction after seeing the ads. And some consumers also had a negative reaction toward Target, Walmart’s main competitor, after seeing the ads. But other than that, the impact seems to be minimal, even among Snapchat users. It could be that Snapchat isn’t the right platform for Walmart to share this particular message. Or maybe the company could harness more of a fun method of getting its message across to really appeal to the Snapchat audience in the future.You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Walmart by Mike Mozart under CC BY 2.0What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on August 11 via AYTM’s online survey panel.