by Kevin Coupe
Walmart clearly has decided to the pedal to the metal in marketing its click-and-collect service, which makes sense it is is said to be on the verge of offering it in more than 2,000 of its stores; since Walmart is the nation’s dominant bricks-and-mortar retailer, it only makes sense to use that advantage in its pitched battle against Amazon, the nation’s dominant e-commerce retailer.
With that goal in mind, Walmart unveiled a new commercial during Sunday’s Golden Globe awards ceremony, a long version of which can be seen at left.
The commercial shows a number of cars made famous in movies and on television - among them the Batmobile, the customized ambulance from Ghostbusters, the Pontiac Trans Am from "Knight Rider,” Lightning McQueen from Cars, the station wagon from National Lampoon’s Vacation, the van from “Scooby Doo,” the SUV from Jurassic Park, Fred Flintstone’s car, Bumblebee from Transformers, and the DeLorean from Back to the Future - all racing to Walmart to pick up orders than had been placed online.
One bonus car that may have gotten past some folks - there also was a red and white Ford F-150 truck, which is what Sam Walton used to drive.
My only problem with the commercial - and this definitely falls into the category of nitpicking - was the cars that were left out.
Where was James Bond’s Aston Martin? Burt Reynolds’ Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit? The Love Bug? Any vehicle from any Mad Max movie? A Tucker? The Ford Thunderbird from Thelma and Louise? Any Mini from The Italian Job? The truck from “The Beverly Hillbillies?” Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? The Gran Torino from The Big Lebowski? And, of course, the best movie car of all time, the 1968 Mustang from Bullitt? (I could go on … I would’ve loved to see a dark green 1968 Dodge Dart GTS, but almost nobody else would’ve gotten or even cared about that reference. Extra credit to anyone in the MNB community who does.)
Oh, well. Maybe Walmart will make a sequel … the way it is going with e-commerce in general (one estimate is that its e-commerce sales will grow more than 150 percent a year between now and 2021) and especially its Eye-Opening commitment to click-and-collect, there may be plenty of opportunity.
- KC's View:
