2006 marked the year that Walmart attempted to wedge itself into the ever-expanding world of social media. Unfortunately, their version of MySpace-namely, "The Hub"- didn't catch on with consumers.
Targeted towards teenagers, "The Hub" promised that the prizes available to be won by "expressing yourself" through video uploads were "out of control!"
While the idea was admirable, their underlying strategy and execution failed miserably. Their attempt to imitate the overly-successful MySpace did not succeed, partly because they went overboard in trying to reach out and relate to their target market, making the entire feel of the site "corny" and "staged". Adage.com asks a very important question, "Is there anything more excruciating than some lametard adult copywriter trying to speak to teenagers in their own language?" Coined perfectly, Walmart came across as trying to be cool rather than actually being cool in the eyes of its target market.
So, after only ten weeks of being online, "The Hub" was no more, and the promotion was terminated.
Rather than creating an online social media site that one thinks will appeal to teenagers, Walmart should have conducted more research to determine exactly how to better relate to and interest their target market. This potentially could have been a great method to promote and popularize their line of kids apparel, but they just couldn't pull it off.
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