Growing from the Gut

It's (about to be) the New Year and what do we all want to do after last week? Loose some weight, take care of that spare tire, etc. I myself was thinking of this as I got ready this morning. I had the news on in the background and heard a commercial about loosing weight AND saving money. Hey ... I think as my attention is captured amidst my struggle with my belt, who's promising this now ...?

None other than the subject of our previous post: Walmart (my friend McKinze reminded me after the last post that they dropped the hyphen as part of their recent brand overhaul). They even say at the end It's cheaper to loose weight at Walmart. And the scary thing? This is probably true. I really don't mean to dwell on Walmart as I am not a huge fan but the recent messaging has been spot on. First, sad as it is, the time has really come for their 'Save Money. Live Better' message (though it should be recognized that this is a more topical riff on their previous and somewhat threatening brand promise of 'Always Low Prices. Always.'). Second, they peel off topical campaigns such as this New Year weight-loss TV message which  they tie together with a keyword campaign (Google 'cheap weight loss' and see who's near the top) which leads to a targeted microsite on healthy living. 

Again - I am not a fan of the company but this strategy seems like it could encourage current customers to spend even more and motivate potential new customers to come on in in one fell swoop. Which strategically watches their vast backyard while also positioning for growth by capitalizing on our current need to save more money than ever and our post-holiday resolve to curb the growth of our respective waistlines.