WalMart’s MySpace Clone Dead on Arrival

I had originally posted a skeptical article regarding Walmart's social networking project back in July here.

October 3, 2006 by Pete Cashmore
Original posted at Mashable

TheHub, WalMart’s ill-fated attempt at building a social network for kool kidz who just happen to like shopping at Walmart, has gone offline. The site, which was up for 10 weeks, tried to keep content wholesome, and featured profiles and videos from “real” kids (aka actors) about how much they adore WalMart. It’s possible that WalMart intended to end the promotion after 10 weeks - it was a back-to-school site, after all - but it’s equally probable that the lack of interest from kids led to an early shutdown.

It’s pretty much universally agreed that TheHub was a complete failure. Aside from the fake profiles and unabashed attempts to make users buy WalMart gear, WalMart screened the content and emailed a user’s parents to check whether it was ok for them to sign up. There’s nothing wrong with trying to build a safer social network (both Piczo and Mashable sponsor Multiply are having a go), but this was a little too much. In another example of marketing executives trying to get down with the kidz, users were referred to as “Hubsters” and the tagline was “school my way”.

The other reason WalMart missed the mark is that they totally misunderstood what’s cool these days. What’s odd is that Dotster’s new PimpedEmail product is another example of marketers trying to be cool, but somehow they almost get away with it. On second thought, maybe “PimpedMart” would be just as bad as “School Your Way”.

Of course, that doesn’t mean WalMart was wrong to pursue social networking as a marketing strategy - they could just step up their MySpace marketing (there’s already a Walmart profile), and start offering widgets, banners and buttons. Or copy Dasani and start distributing custom MySpace layouts. The WalMart brand isn’t very cool, but some of the products they sell (CDs, DVDs, MP3 players) are - something like the MySpace product slideshows from FavoriteThingz could work. Making WalMart cool is a big challenge and one that probably shouldn’t be tackled by out of touch marketers riding skateboards and listening to Avril Lavigne.