Snap, Crackle, Pop it’s not! But Wal-Mart’s first new ad slogan in almost 20 years is an improvement over “Always Low Prices.” While neither catchphrase is likely to make it onto a list of ad classics, Wal-Mart has obviously put a lot of thought and research behind its new rallying cry and the accompanying marketing campaign, which debuted last week on TV, radio, and its Web site.
The economical four-word slogan is crafted to appeal to two different audiences: The first is Wal-Mart’s core customer (price-sensitive, low income folks struggling to make ends meet); the second is a demographic the retailer has been trying, without much success, to lure into its supercenters for years. Apparently, these consumers have been enjoying the good life shopping at Target and Costco. Wal-Mart has repeatedly stumbled trying to attract this hedonistic bunch with higher quality merchandise, such as Dell computers and 400-thread-count sheets. Whether it succeeds this time, remains to be seen.
The new campaign aims to call attention to the staggering amount of money Wal-Mart says it saves American families, which according to a study conducted for the retailer by Global Insight totaled about $2,500 per household last year. In other words, Wal-Mart claims to have generated savings of $287 billion, or $957 per person, in 2006. (Of course, critics claim the study fails to take into account the chain’s impact on poverty, wages, and damage to local businesses.) Nevertheless, $2,500 per family ain’t chump change. What to do with two-and-a-half Gs? Two new commercials created for Wal-Mart by The Martin Agency suggest taking a family road trip or buying your teen a used car.
To drive home its money-saving point, Wal-Mart has installed a “savings ticker,” reminiscent of the landmark US National Debt Clock at Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street near New York’s Times Square. (If you can’t make the trip to Bentonville, you can view the ticker on Wal-Mart’s Web site.) The two tickers got me thinking and I came up with a little problem for the mathematically inclined: If the national debt is $9,021,622,075,677 (and change), and Wal-Mart saves consumers $957 per person per year, assuming a US population of 303 million, how long will it take to erase the national debt with money saved shopping at Wal-Mart?
Answer (of sorts): Assuming the national debt and population remain frozen at current levels — highly unlikely, but it makes solving the problem so much simpler — my back-of-the-envelope calculation is roughly 31 years. That’s a mere blink of an eye! I ask you: Can we afford not to shop at Wal-Mart?
Comments
John MacAyeal Says:
September 18th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Regarding “Of course, critics claim the study fails to take into account the chain’s impact on poverty, wages, and damage to local businesses.” I’d like to know how the amount that consumers save with Wal-mart’s low prices compares with how much society loses from Wal-Mart’s detrimental policies. If the savings exceed the losses should we tax those savings to provide more health insurance and other benefits? Forget the road trip or the teen’s car. Most likely, anyway, the losses probably exceed the savings.
James Bryant Says:
September 18th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
I love the idea of saving money through lower prices - because it is so dumb. The best way to save money is not to buy a bunch of plastic crap you don’t need in the first place. I doubt that every bit of the $2,500 saved went toward necessities. My guess is at least a quarter of the $2,500 went for less-than-mission-critical, poisonous toys.
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