Henkel Shines in Walmart 'Takeover'
Henkel’s Schwarzkopf brand brought together multiple activities this year for an immersive experience at Walmart celebrating home hair coloring.
The “Schwarzkopf Keratin Blonde: More Blonde. Less Breakage*.” launch campaign encouraged trial and purchase of the products from March 26 through July 1. [The asterisk in the campaign name communicates “with up to 80% less breakage versus untreated hair.”] The target market primarily included female Walmart shoppers looking for a convenient and effective home hair color solution, says Cassie Ross, senior customer marketing manager at Henkel.
The campaign was informed by several insights and leveraged the popularity of color analysis trends to provide shoppers with personalized recommendations and enhance their experience, she says.
“By offering both an in-store and digital experience that combined educational content, interactive elements and social proof through before-and-after photos and influencer partnerships, the campaign aimed to address shopper needs for guidance, assurance and convenience in the home hair coloring process,” Ross says.
In-store signage at Walmart for the program included shelf strips placed in the hair color aisle to showcase key Schwarzkopf Keratin Blonde benefits.
On the retail media side, Walmart Connect launched a 12-week supporting activation including onsite and offsite display banner ads, Walmart Facebook and Instagram social ads, and a homepage takeover and gallery ad placement on Walmart.com.
Henkel also worked closely with Walmart Connect on the first-ever Walmart store Salon Takeover in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on March 26 (known as “National Good Hair Day”). The brand leased a pop-up space inside the Walmart location, transforming it into a full-service custom salon. Four more takeover events followed at stores across Texas and Florida in April. An additional “Color on Tour” event had a full-service salon on wheels in front of the store entrance at the Fayetteville activation. The tour also traveled to 16 spots.
Gratsy supported all takeovers and assembled sample gift boxes for Walmart+ members. The boxes had inserts with a QR code leading to a custom Breaktime Media digital experience. A separate version of the experience was accessible to all shoppers, complete with an opportunity to enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win up to $2,000 in prizes.
Breaktime Media’s personalized interactive content contributed to the success of the campaign by increasing visibility, awareness and shopper engagement, Ross says. Tens of thousands of unique users entered the experience with all steps exceeding program benchmarks, according to Breaktime reporting.
“The quiz saw a 92.3% participation rate and the event photos had thousands of views, demonstrating overwhelming engagement with the brand and content,” Ross says.
There were nearly 30,000 entries to the sweepstakes, and more than $750,000 in products added to digital Walmart carts, she says. Mars United Commerce and Outerkind also contributed to the campaign.