Walmart’s Grocerant Niche Focus ‘Better for You” Works

 

Once again, the ‘halo’ of grocerant niche ‘better-4-you’ food is taking center stage. Walmart has edified its brand marketing messaging to include ‘Better-4-You’ messaging; that is consumer family focused, interactive, and participatory according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

Regular readers of this blog understand the dynamic growth, consumer migration, and value of ‘better-4-you’ products have in driving new customer migration. Today, with parents are struggling to get their kids to eat more healthfully. Enter Walmart, in collaboration with Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) and Higher Ground Productions, has launched The Hidden World of Waffles + Mochi, an interactive culinary adventure experience, to inspire families to cook up fresh, healthy foods just like Waffles and Mochi do on their Netflix show as part of the Pass the Love campaign.

This branded invitation echoes the hallmarks of grocerant niche mix & match meal bundling with interactive participatory family fun simply edifies all the attributes of discovery that Gen Z and Millennials are seeking and will drive new electricity into the Walmart brand according to Johnson.

This program empowers Parents and kids to visit Walmart.com/wafflesandmochi on any device to access The Hidden World of Waffles + Mochi. Once in the experience, families can interact with 20 activities centered on 10 ingredients from the series, from tomatoes and mushrooms to eggs and rice.

Those that visit will discover recipe activities that help parents and kids expand their palates and put a twist on things that they regularly eat. Additionally, kids can play custom mini games, including Mash Me If You Can! and Corn Hole, that show how fun and nutritious food can be.

Battle for Share of Stomach

Kind of like Waffles and Mochi on their show, each user will have the chance to unlock unique badges throughout the experience, which will generate a donation from Walmart to the PHA's Pass the Love campaign to help feed food-insecure families across the country. Until May 31, Walmart has committed to donating up to $1 million to the campaign.

Courtney Carlson, SVP, category marketing, Walmart, stated, "We’re excited to work with PHA and Higher Ground Productions to bring the world of Waffles + Mochi to a digital experience to show kids that tasty meals can be healthy and tons of fun," … "The fact that kids can play to pay forward a meal for a family who needs it makes this experience doubly rewarding for all of those who will use it. We aim to be a force for good in the communities we serve by helping democratize access to healthy, affordable foods and supporting hunger relief efforts. The Hidden World of Waffles + Mochi is just another example of that."

When you visit Walmart the next time, please support the PHA’s Pass the Love campaign while shopping at Walmart.  You can round up your purchase to the nearest dollar through May 31. Change will be donated to the campaign.

Nancy E. Roman, president and CEO of Washington, D.C.-based PHA, stated, "Walmart is a crucial partner to PHA's Pass the Love Campaign,"  "Through The Hidden World of Waffles + Mochi, Walmart's customers will engage with the central message from this amazing show — that preparing and cooking food and ingredients at home can be fun, healthy and, in this case, do some tremendous good as well. We're so grateful that every play of The Hidden World of Waffles + Mochi will initiate a donation to PHA, along with the Walmart customers donating through a month-long round-up campaign. Every penny will make a difference."

So, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are working to break down barriers to access to healthier, nutritious food through innovative and creative solutions that connect people around the world with healthier food options. In 2020, Walmart donated more than 747 million pounds of food-to-food banks and other organizations around the world helping feed those in need.

How are you driving new electricity into your brand? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new menu related products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, music, developing brands, unique urban hemp clothing, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different. 

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869