Walmart Connect, the retailer’s retail media arm, has launched a new certification program to help advertisers of all types and levels understand and adopt the company’s evolving suite of advertising solutions.
The Walmart Connect Academy Ad Certification program will be open for general access beginning on Oct. 16, 2023. It was initially beta tested by more than 500 commerce-focused employees at media investment company GroupM.
“Walmart Connect is not the same business it was three years ago,” said Kara Rousseau, Head of Marketing and Lightbox Creative at Walmart Connect in a blog post announcing the program. “We quickly transformed into an omnichannel offering and quickly scaled our self-serve solutions to serve brands of all sizes. That’s why we’re making it easier for our advertisers to understand and adopt our rapidly evolving solutions. Through certification, advertisers at all levels can not only optimize their best practices to help unlock increased growth with Walmart Connect, but also tout their retail media proficiency with post-certification badges.”
To learn more about retail media, check out our full guide here.
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Anyone can get certified in the free program, from current advertisers and partners to prospective advertisers or even students. Self-serve advertisers will be able to gain detailed insights into Walmart Connect’s advertising solutions to help maximize their ad performance, while managed advertisers and agencies can elevate their proficiency in the Walmart Connect solutions to improve their buying decisions.
Participants can complete coursework and a knowledge check or simply go directly to a final time-bound assessment. With a passing score of 80% or higher and the completion of a feedback survey, participants are then granted a LinkedIn-enabled digital credential that is valid for one year.
The initial set of courses includes:
- Walmart Connect Retail Media (two courses) — foundational understanding of retail media and Walmart Connect’s unique offerings;
- Sponsored products (11 courses) — setting campaign goals, ad placements, bids and budgets, reporting and how to optimize campaign performance;
- Sponsored brands (three to four courses) — product eligibility, effective targeting techniques, setting competitive bids and budgets, adding images, creating ad groups and reporting; and
- Sponsored Videos (two to three courses) — product eligibility, creating and uploading video assets, creating campaigns, optimizing performance and leveraging all the available reporting options.
Additional courses will be added on an ongoing basis, including courses in Display Self-Serve that will be introduced in 2024.
