Lina Zhao, Walmart: Rising Stars 2023

Social media shopping has long been an interest for brands, and Lina Zhao is helping Walmart lead the charge across platforms. See all of Ad Age's 2023 Leading Women here Zhao’s first project for the retail giant was a shoppable Snapchat recipe lens that allowed users to scan the food they had at home, and have the lens suggest recipes they could make. The lens was promoted on Walmart’s website and in stores. According to Zhao, the lens reached 4 million Snapchatters, and play time averaged 23 seconds. Walmart was also one of the first retailers to have access to Twitter’s Product Drops. Zhao jumped in, tapping the gaming culture on Twitter to promote Black Friday deals for PS5s. The product drops had an average order value of $515. Zhao also used TikTok’s Branded Mission feature to open up Walmart’s brief for its #IsItMondayYet Black Friday campaign. The retailer opted to get ahead of the noise and release deals on Monday. “We started with the insight that Black Friday shopping is like a pro sport around finding the best deals,” said Zhao. Zhao also saw an opportunity to improve AANHPI representation in Walmart’s marketing. While the AANHPI-focused DEI platform that Zhao brought forward is in the early stages of proposal, Walmart has already started using Zhao’s research and insights in its AANHPI posts on social media. See all of Ad Age's 2023 Leading Women here

Walmart’s Lina Zhao taps the power of social shopping

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