Walmart Marketing VP Cynthia Kleinbaum on the value of being an "outsider”

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Can Walmart’s paid membership program Walmart+ take on Amazon Prime? 

Walmart+ marketing VP Cynthia Kleinbaum has a lot to do with the answer to that question. It's her job to make sure people know about it — and join.

Walmart+, which rolls out today nationwide, is one of the company’s most important initiatives — if not the most important — and Kleinbaum sits at the center of it. She oversees all Walmart+ marketing from brand strategy and acquisition to retention. Dubbed  a “Different Kind of Membership,” it’s the brand’s biggest campaign of the year. It features 22 real families who had early access to Walmart+ and highlights how they saved “time to do the things that really matter.” 

“Simply by documenting their day-to-day lives, we were able to show the world what we saw: That when you give people their time and money back, they spend it with their loved ones, doing the things that matter most to them,” Kleinbaum says. “There were no actors or scripts. It was just real people living their lives. Somehow, even though we shot it in the midst of a global pandemic, it captures the joy and love of family and life.” 

Kleinbaum’s career has taken her from brands ranging from Nestle and Colgate Palmolive to Gilt Groupe. She most recently worked at Bonobos, which was acquired by Walmart in June 2017 in an effort to build out its online retail offerings. That’s how Kleinbaum got to Walmart. Since then she’s had remits ranging from head of marketing for consumables and launching NextDay delivery as its general manager to serving as VP of Marketing for Product, Mobile, Services and Digital Acceleration. Most recently, she’s added a few more responsibilities to her portfolio with Walmart+ and online pickup and delivery.

Under Kleinbaum and the marketing team, Walmart is well-positioned to have a fighting chance against Amazon Prime after its headline-making ecommerce growth of 97% in its second quarter. But to be clear, it will be some fight. Amazon dominates this market.

In the course of our first conversation, Kleinbaum and I covered the professional: her career at companies of all different sizes, how to advance in a large organization (tip: be patient!), the personal: marriage and kids (she’s the mom of a 17-month-old), and where the two overlap, which is everywhere. She is fascinated by the center of that venn diagram -- how and why people make decisions. As a LatinX and Jewish woman who started her career in Mexico City, Kleinbaum has long considered herself an “outsider,” a perspective she’s found incredibly valuable as a marketer. 

Below, she shares more of her story, how she thinks about consumer behavior and how her team approached the marketing campaign for Walmart+. 

1. What has had the most impact on your perspective as a marketer?

I grew up in Mexico City and started my career there. As a Jewish woman, none of my peers nor my customers looked like me and I felt like an outsider. Everywhere I went, I didn’t see myself reflected. In many ways, I still feel like an “outsider.” The thing is, as a marketer, I’ve found this perspective to be very valuable. No matter who my target customer is — a new mom in Los Angeles, a long-haul truck driver in the Midwest, a millennial in Miami — I feel genuinely curious about what motivates people. 

2. What’s changed the most about your job as a marketer over the course of your career?

I started my marketing career at Nestle almost 20 years ago. Since then, the day-to-day responsibilities of a marketer, and the tools we use to succeed, have changed dramatically. But here’s the element that’s changed the most: The ability to engage with an audience 1-on-1 — specifically, by leveraging big data, AI, and dynamic content. 

3. What’s the hardest part of a marketer’s job today? 

Without question, it’s cutting through the noise and getting your message in front of the right audience. You could have a great product, a big marketing budget, a beautifully executed creative campaign — and still, you might not get noticed. You’re competing with so much content and advertising. That’s why authenticity is so important. 

4. Tell us about the marketing campaign you’re most proud of working on in your career.

Tough question. I’ve had the chance to work with so many powerful brands, from Nesquik in Mexico, where with the campaign Caritas we repositioned the brand to be unapologetically about making kids happy instead of trying to please both moms and kids, to Bonobos, where with the campaign However You Fit, Bonobos Fits You we were able to communicate the functional benefit (the best fitting clothes) and the emotional one (self-confidence). So I feel very lucky to say that I’ve always been proud of our campaigns.

That said, I’m incredibly proud of the campaign I’m working on right now — which is the launch of Walmart+. Walmart+ is our new membership service that includes free delivery from our stores, mobile checkout, and fuel discounts.

Instead of shooting a traditional campaign and telling our audience how much better their life would be as Walmart+ members, we decided to go in a different direction: We gave 22 diverse families “early access” to our membership. Then, simply by documenting their day-to-day lives, we were able to show the world what we saw: That when you give people their time and money back, they spend it with their loved ones, doing the things that matter most to them. 

There were no actors or scripts. It was just real people living their lives. Somehow, even though we shot it in the midst of a global pandemic, it captures the joy and love of family and life. Kudos to our agency and production partners for pulling it off. 

5. What’s a marketing campaign you wish you’d thought of and why? 

I’m so impressed by the Dove Real Beauty campaign. By tapping into a powerful customer insight — that only 2% of women consider themselves beautiful — it changed the conversation around skincare. Instead of focusing on ingredients and functional benefits, it focused on emotional benefits. So instead of selling a fix for dry skin or wrinkles, it sold confidence. As a marketer, you know you’ve tapped into a universal insight when your brief can live for years — and a countless number of creative executions can be developed. 

6. What’s your must read, watch or listen for all marketers?

Watch and listen to the world in front of you. For a marketer, there’s no substitute for talking to real people — especially those who, at first blush, you seem to have little in common with. That said, I’m currently reading “A Curious Mind” by Brian Grazer, and I’m a big fan of the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepard. 

 7. What’s an under the radar brand you’re watching and why?

10% Happier, a meditation app that hasn’t gotten much press. It’s “teacher based,” which makes the content rich and diverse. Essentially, it positions its service as “meditation for fidgety skeptics,” a group I was definitely a part of. After using it for a few years and seeing how it improves my life, I wonder why everyone isn’t using it. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to reduce stress, perform at a higher level, and become happier. 

8. Name a product you can’t live without (that doesn’t connect you to the internet) and tell us why. 

 Shakeology, which is a protein powder I use to make a post-workout shake every morning. I have to be on my A-game all day, and I feel like this “fuel” is my secret weapon. 

9. Finish this sentence. If I weren’t a marketer, I would be  

A sociology researcher. I really enjoy studying human behavior, which is the basis of the work I do as a marketer. 

10. Finish this sentence: The marketer I most want to see do this questionnaire is… 

Bindu Shah

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