Walmart Says Technology Has Democratized Creativity at Scale
Creativity at scale has been democratized thanks to the introduction of new technologies, which are enabling retailers and brands to leverage their creative work at scale, according to David Hartman, vice president of creative at Walmart.
Hartman oversees the retailer’s 80,000-square-foot bespoke facility, which opened in March 2024 at Playa Vista, one of Los Angeles’ entertainment, media and tech hubs. With a state-of-the-art production studio and internal agency, Walmart Creative Studio has become the heart of Walmart’s operations.
However, he told delegates at the National Retail Federation's (NRF) Big Show in New York this week that any retailer can harness technology to deliver more cost-effective creatives.
See also: Primo Brands Talks Benefits of Weather Analytics at NRF
“The investment we made in the studio was in order to find ways to do more with less, and we are very ambitious about the role of creativity at scale,” he said. “It’s an exciting time to have these tools available to us, but you don’t have to have these facilities to be creative with that size and scale. In many ways the access to technology has democratized the creativity process, so no matter what the size of the retailer, we all have the opportunity to meet the customer where they are.”
Much of Walmart’s current approach is based around the avoidance of duplication and is designed to leverage its creative work across geographies, adapted and nuanced from core, centrally produced creative delivery.
“We’re looking to achieve localization, with personalization at the back of that,” he added. “It’s really critical to embed processes and have full line-of-sight across where the creative work is being generated and delivered, tagging usage. We’re trying to be responsible with the detailed tracking of the assets we are using so that we aren’t duplicating work.”
Hannah Elsakr, founder, Firefly enterprise and VP new business ventures, Adobe, advised that there are four key areas that retailers should focus on when approaching the production process.
“Firstly, you have to be mindful of being responsible in using AI and protecting your IP,” she said. “Second, we have spent a long time targeting personalization — which the introduction of AI will influence through its ability to produce multiple data points, because previously we couldn’t fill the pipe with enough content.”
Third, she said that the use of centrally managed creative software will help answer the pressure to do more with less, extending the original content, through iterations for local markets, for a fraction of the cost of producing original creatives from multiple offices.
“This comes at a time when we are all working with flat budgets,” she said, pointing out the importance of cost management. “And finally, for 2025 we need to go from the playground to production. If I had one piece of advice for retailers and brands, it would be to go beyond test and learn and choose one or two hero projects this year and make sure that you deliver them.”
