Online
(Factiva)
1 April 2008
Brandweek
Copyright 2008, Nielsen Business Media. All rights reserved.
By Barry Janoff
Wal-Mart says it is serious about going "green" and encouraging its customers to also do so. To support its position, Wal-Mart this week will launch what it called "the most comprehensive environmental sustainability campaign" in company history.
The effort, via The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., includes TV, radio, Internet and print, including a 16-page insert in May issues of general-interest magazines. Spend for the effort was not disclosed.
Seven 30-second spots focus on various areas of sustainability to support in-store efforts around Earth Month 2008. One spotlights co-branded Coca-Cola T-shirts made with RPET, a material manufactured from recycled plastic bottles. Another supports the current rollout of Wal-Mart's own six-SKU private label line of "organic, Rainforest Alliance and fair trade certified coffees." The coffees will be sold under the Sam's Choice brand and will include Sam's Choice Fair Trade certified coffee, Sam's Choice Rainforest Alliance certified coffee and Sam's Choice USDA organic decaffeinated coffee.
In-store signage offers, "Earth Month '08. Save money. Live better." The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer said that more than 50 products spanning various aspects of sustainability will be featured on store shelves in April and that more than 500 eco-friendly items will be available at Walmart.com.
The campaign comes on the heels of a decision by the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus that the mega retailer must revamp a current campaign which claims that shopping at Wal-Mart saves its customers an average of $2,500 per family per year, while people who shop at other retailers do not. NAD said in a statement that Wal-Mart cannot make that implication in its ads, also via The Martin Agency. However, NAD accepted Wal-Mart's marketing claim that "its efficiency and size drive down consumer prices across the entire U.S. economy, generating that $2,500 savings regardless of where consumers shop."
When the new Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in Columbia earlier this fall, it provided job opportunities for more than 200 people...
