Walmart's Ad Tech Buy Part of Display Self-Serve Platform Plan

Walmart bought advertising technology firm Thunder Industries and is developing a display self-serve platform for suppliers who sign up for the retailer’s media business, blogged Janey Whiteside, chief customer officer, Thursday. The company can “serve clients in a way no one else can -- as a closed-loop omnichannel media company,” she said. Later this year, vendors will be able to have advertising creative produced using “the assets you want and automatically generate the right sizes and specifications for your campaigns,” it said. The platform is designed to boost connections between brands and customers “at scale,” with the ability to measure results. Customers will be able to see how the look and feel of different ads perform and make edits accordingly, she said. Thunder’s technology will be integrated with Walmart's display self-serve platform to help brands automate their creative, said the executive. It will reduce the time between the idea for an ad and its going live, she said.