Case Study - Walmart Stores, Inc.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc . is the nation's largest company and the world's largest retailer. Due to its high level of brand awareness and presence in predominantly rural communities, Wal-Mart has not utilized email as a component of their overall marketing communications strategy. When launching a new store in Hillsboro, Oregon, Wal-Mart realized Intel's neighborhood would be much more Web savvy and would benefit from cost-effective and timely email communications. With less than a week prior to an important community meeting, Wal-Mart approached eROI for help.

Program Objectives

• Generate awareness of new Wal-Mart store
• Encourage participation in community meeting

Target Audience

• Hillsboro residents and business owners

Challenges

• Incredibly short timeframe - 2 days to locate an opt-in list of residents and businesses

Strategies
With virtually no time to reach out to multiple outlets, eROI turned to a local media partner for help. The list broker was able to locate 12,000 residents in two relevant zip codes. Creative was provided and the email was turned around within two days.

Since business email addresses were difficult to come by, eROI contacted the local chamber of commerce and recommended they notify their members of the upcoming meeting as a public service announcement. The forward-thinking chamber agreed, and notified members, at no cost to Wal-Mart.

Results
Since the primary objective of the email was to generate awareness for the meeting, the primary metric was meeting attendance. Even with a 3 day notice, the meeting was standing room only. Wal-Mart was thankful for the attendance and feedback from local residents and business owners.