Situation: Business was up for Walmart in spring and summer of 2020. But that success wasn't translating to brand loyalty as people were turning to online competitors. If Walmart couldn’t win hearts and minds, they risked losing wallets.

The Brief: How can we use an overlooked part of Walmart’s national footprint to emotionally connect with communities, safely during the pandemic?

The Objective: Prove to America that Walmart is so much more than a shopping destination, with a series of events that preserve beloved traditions, invite the community to safely gather, and create new positive brand feelings.

Open Walmart’s parking lots to give back some of what the pandemic took away with four distinct ideas:

Walmart Drive-in: National tour of diverse family films and celebrity special guests.

Spooky Street: Custom-built haunted houses for COVID-safe Halloween.

Gameday Marketplace: Small business market driven by college football rivalry.

Winter Park: Holiday treats for families and socially distanced Santa Claus.

It’s easy for an essential service to be successful in a pandemic. But success doesn’t equal brand loyalty. And that was exactly the problem for Walmart. People were shopping online competitors in droves.

Walmart was losing hearts and minds, and was at risk of losing wallets if they didn’t build an emotional relationship with their customers. One that made them proud to shop Walmart.

Building that relationship means finding what matters most to them. For Walmart shoppers, that was creating special memories with their family. Memories that were getting harder to make after six months at home.

Walmart realized they could give everyone a special evening together by turning old centers of commerce into new centers of community. By turning empty parking lots into places for magic, joy and memories when the world needed it most.

In the midst of a pandemic, Lots of Joy safely traveled to more than 140 cities across 30 states in six months, turning 190 Walmart parking lots into places where families could feel normal again.

Families enjoyed 305 drive-in movie nights, 23 classic movies from Space Jam to Selena, and 13 celebrity guests.

16 custom built haunted houses safely welcomed hundreds of costumed trick-or-treaters. Eight gameday marketplaces supported dozens of small businesses impacted by college football cancellations.

And thousands of shoppers were surprised and delighted at 59 Winter Park locations, each with its own North Pole.

In total, attendees safely received more that 827,000 free treats and enjoyed hundreds of safe and memorable moments with their families.

Lots of joy had a tremendous impact on Walmart's public perception, and drove serious media attention.

12.3B media impressions

142MM social media impressions

5,927 news stories

78 point NPS lift during the campaign

142% lift beyond the category leader

225% higher than our own set goals.

This NPS lift correlates to a positive financial forecast for future Walmart success.