On March 26, 2018, an Instagram video was posted of 11-year-old Mason Ramsey, aka Yodel Boy, singing Lovesick Blues by Hank Williams Senior, in the aisle of his local Walmart in Harrisburg, Illinois - a typical American small town with a population just under 9,000.

Within a week, Yodel Boy went viral and then hit meme status. But that was just the beginning.

The brief was simple: determine if there was a way to maximize the exposure Mason was receiving, that would support him and the Walmart brand, through social media.

There was something about Mason that told us he had the potential to break out beyond the typical viral sensation into a phenomenon. We had to move fast to get ahead of Mason’s momentum and help Walmart capitalize on the opportunity.

Our idea was to give Mason the stage he deserves, in front of his newly adoring fans, through a hometown concert for his fellow Harrisburg residents in the Walmart parking lot where his fame germinated days prior and broadcast it to the world via Facebook Live, where millions more could join in.

Within days of going viral, Mason had booked live appearances on Ellen, at Coachella, with more in the works. That meant we had a week to pull it off; a full-scale performance with a decked-out stage and sound system, celebrity emcee, opening acts, merch, posters, concessions, and the live, multiple camera webcast.

All within a week.

While reviewing our social listening tools, we discovered a video featuring a young boy yodeling at his hometown Walmart store in Harrisburg, IL. A customer shared a video of Mason Ramsey, the yodeling boy, on Facebook where it began to garner engagement.

Soon after, DJ Suede released his now famous remix on Instagram. Our team loved that this video engaged people across the nation with a musical mix of genres that drew interest across many cultures and demographics.

We tracked the demographics of audiences that were liking, sharing and commenting on that original video. We learned that the video had mass appeal across demo’s.

There’s something about a young person singing their heart out that transcends generations. Programs like “America’s Got Talent” have proven this for years.

Our hypothesis was that if we did this right, we could create a “Walmart’s Got Talent” moment that would break through the aether.

At 6pm Friday, April 6, Walmart approved. The team met the next day to formulate plans, and on Sunday, April 8, the first team of staffers drove through the night to Harrisburg.

Our biggest hurdle was the livestream, as cell signals in the rural area of Harrisburg, IL were intermittent. So we brought in a satellite truck. We found a company that had built a full stage into a semi-trailer.

We engaged local and community officials to facilitate the event and activated local partners to swarm the town with posters and information.

We created promotional content like the #YodelChallenge, which asked users to share their own best yodel, and created a Snapchat filter featuring a caricature of Mason Ramsey yodeling and shared it with our followers ahead of the concert.

During the concert we engaged with celebrities and influencers talking about Mason's mad yodeling skills in real-time.

Our 20 minute livestream of the concert on Twitter and Facebook inspired a total of 3.6M viewers and over 5M minutes viewed - Walmart’s biggest Facebook moment, ever.

Fans were quick to respond and share. The tweet sharing word of the concert generated 63K favorites, 15K retweets and 650 replies, and was one of Walmart’s most engaging tweets ever.

We engaged with influential social users and brands; Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini, Paris Jackson, Mike "The Situation" from Jersey Shore, Doug the Pug, the Boston Red Sox, the Sacramento Kings, Party City, Little Debbie, Vice and Nylon Mag on their love for Yodel Boy.

Across our social posts and our Yodel Boy Snapchat filter, we inspired over 853K engagements and nearly 40M social impressions.

On top of that, we received press coverage of our concert from top media outlets including Billboard, TIME, Thrillist and The Washington Post amongst many others.