Wal-Mart Canada is to broadcast a specially created cartoon series in its stores to help customers identify with its brand.
The Lisa Show is designed to improve customer loyalty among target segments and provide a funny take on everyday situations. It will be shown on Wal-Mart’s network of in-store displays.
The network has been rolled out to 60 of Wal-Mart’s 278 stores so far and the rest will be up and running by the middle of 2008.
Wal-Mart Canada director of marketing Mike Dombrow explained: “Lisa has three kids, a dog and husband and is very busy. We want to demonstrate that we have empathy for young mothers. The screens are the mirrors that people hold up to recognise themselves.”
He added: “It’s engaging, it is very cheap to create and we think that we can build notoriety and a lot of equity with Lisa.”
Wal-Mart does not want the cartoon to focus on products, slogans or logos, although products will be placed within storylines down the line. Additional characters will also be added as the series progresses. In time, it will expand the cartoon to include Lisa’s friends and neighbourhood.
In trials of the screen network, products featured in ads achieved a 17.5 per cent sales uplift, and 4 per cent of customers surveyed admitted that they had purchased something directly as a result of seeing it advertised in a store.
Wal-Mart believes that the screen network could also become an important revenue stream in its own right. Dowbrow said: “Reaching a million customers a day who don’t have a remote control to turn the screen off is compelling.”
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