The new playbook for marketing a Target or Walmart launch

At a high level, succeeding in retail often requires a combination of offline and online tactics, from Google and Meta to out-of-home and print media. But over the last few years, brands have faced more complexities: Consumers have tightened their wallets, social media influencers have cemented their importance to brands and retailers, and the choice to even be at a particular retailer is increasingly seen as political as retailers pull back on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

To get a sense of what it takes for marketers today hoping to maximize their products’ potential at Target or Walmart, Modern Retail spoke with agency leaders and marketing executives at brands who have been involved in recent launches or expansions at these retailers. In short, it takes a variety of tactics to consistently remind customers that they can check out a brand at their local Target or Walmart.

Focus on value

Marketers and brand executives said it’s important to emphasize value in today’s consumer environment, focusing on quality rather than just cost.

Education products maker Hand2mind last month brought eight products from its toy line “Numberblocks,” based on a BBC children’s show of the same name, to more than 2,000 Walmart stores nationally. The toys include mini vehicles, plushes and character figures. Hand2mind had initially launched with two products in about 500 stores last year.

Elana Ruffman, vp of marketing and product development at Hand2mind, told Modern Retail that, for Numberblocks, it was important to emphasize the line’s educational value — that the products could help kids learn fundamental skills such as how to add, count or multiply.

“The reality is that they might be behind in school, or they may have missed a little bit of school because of sickness, or they’ve moved,” Ruffman said. “The products we create are meant to increase accessibility to those core skills kids need to develop.”

Conveying value may be easier said than done, especially now. Polly Wong, president of the marketing firm Belardi Wong, said that, as even the most affluent customers become more value-conscious, driving sales is increasingly difficult for the more premium brands her firm primarily works with. She admits it’s unclear so far whether customers at Walmart, for example, will continue to choose a higher quality but more expensive product when a more affordable option is also on the shelf.

“If your product’s more expensive on the shelf, how do you convince somebody to pay up for that product? That’s a huge challenge, honestly, for more premium product companies,” Wong said, using a hypothetical example of a $20 face cream sitting on the same shelf at a big-box retailer as a $4 one. “I would imagine the [$20 cream] could take a hit, but at the same time, maybe the person who bought the $100 face cream at Nordstrom is going to spend down, and there’ll be a new audience for those $20 face creams.”

Engage with influencers

Influencers, notably those with smaller but more engaged followings rather than big-name celebrities, are another key focus for marketers and retailers. Dwight Allen O’Neal, co-founder and co-CEO of the Rose Neal Collective, an agency that works with Black beauty founders, said merchants and buyers for retailers often want to ensure brands are reaching their communities via social media.

O’Neal recommends brands work with microinfluencers, or accounts with fewer than 200,000 followers, as he believes their audiences can be more responsive and interactive, and the brands will see better results.

“I look at quality over quantity,” O’Neal said. “Don’t always look at how many followers they have, but look at the engagement.”

Ruffman and her team at Hand2mind partnered with content creators on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to increase awareness of the product range among parents whose children love the “Numberblocks” show, as the show had largely been successful in the U.S. with its YouTube channel. The company is planning content specific to its Walmart launch soon.

Like O’Neal, she said rather than working with big-name celebrities, the company likes to work with regular people, from teachers to parents or grandparents, offering them samples and allowing them to make posts about them sharing their own experiences with the toys. In December, the brand worked with pediatric occupational therapist Cat Borders on a TikTok video where she shared her thoughts on the toys, which garnered more than 50,000 likes.

“We’re not telling people to say a certain message; we’re really letting the product and the property speak for itself, and that’s been highly effective for us,” she said. “Just because you have a big following doesn’t necessarily mean you get the most engagement or the most views.”

Another example comes from plant-based shake brand Kate Farms, which in March launched three flavors of nutrition shakes in 302 Target stores in California, Oregon, Washington and Massachusetts, as well as nationally on Target’s website. Uniquely, the products are well-known for their use in more than 1,500 hospitals and are often recommended by pediatricians and healthcare professionals.

Considering the brand’s health-focused audience of dietitians, nurses and parents of children who have medical conditions like autism, failure to thrive, malnutrition or allergies, Kate Farms worked with a variety of small to large influencers who have had experience with its products. It has plans in the next few weeks to launch a new series featuring influencers sharing their stories and telling their viewers that the products are available at Target.

Kate Farms last August worked with mother-daughter duo Michelle Dorit and Hannah Lea, who have gained 1.5 million followers sharing their daughter, Hannah’s, experience with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder. That resulted in a post where Hannah talked about how it was difficult to find a nutritional drink she could tolerate and that Kate Farms’ drinks tasted better than any of the others she had tried. The post included a promo code to purchase them on Amazon or the brand’s website.

“We have found that that performs the best; no one can tell it like their own story,” Catherine Hayden, CMO of Kate Farms said in an interview.

Partner with retailers on events, ad campaigns

Outside of their own channels, brands have the opportunity to work with retailers on campaigns at stores or events or through the retailers’ platforms.

O’Neal noted that retailer-hosted events have been successful for some brands. Last year, Walmart hosted an event in Los Angeles in conjunction with the BET Awards spotlighting Black businesses, entrepreneurs and creators.

“It was really great at bringing visibility to those particular brands for the consumer,” O’Neal said. “You can also build community socially by doing pop-ups or participating in festivals.”

Last month, Harvey Ma, vp and general manager of Sam’s Club’s Member Access Platform advertising business, told Modern Retail that in-person activations are a big focus for Sam’s Club, as well. The club retailer is working with brands on in-person events like road shows and taste tests. It hosted a tailgating event in Kansas City last year.

Additionally, the expansion of retailers’ data tools and advertising networks means additional digital marketing resources for brands. For example, Ruffman said Hand2mind leverages information from Scintilla, Walmart’s data product for suppliers and merchants, and feeds it into the retailer’s advertising network Walmart Connect. The company leveraged both platforms to serve ads on other products and groceries aimed at children ages 3-6.

Be authentic

It’s also a challenging time for brands to launch into retail, as they have to navigate issues like changing consumer sentiment, tariffs and trade wars, and the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion policies across the industry. Target, in particular, has been the subject of consumer boycotts, and Black brand owners have previously expressed concern to Modern Retail as their brands could be caught in the crosshairs as some shoppers pull back on spending at the big-box chain.

In turn, brands have to decide whether or not they want to publicly address any backlash against their retail partners on social media, and how to do so while also still encouraging shoppers to find their products in retail.

O’Neal recommended that brands selling at Target or Walmart be clear about their values on social media if they’re not aligned with the views of those retailers. He also said brands should diversify their sales channels by strengthening their direct-to-consumer business or exploring other retailers that better match with their beliefs.

“You need to amplify that through your following, through your community. If you’re authentic, your community knows when you’re being authentic, and they understand that,” he said. “I don’t see anything wrong with a brand founder doing a live and just really amplifying what their company stands for, what their beliefs are, who they are and just being honest in that sense.”