According to Walmart, 97% of queries for Marty are unique, indicating that advertisers are using the tool for custom use cases. Marty’s recommendations are particularly helpful for emerging advertisers, including small businesses and midsize brands that want tailored suggestions for their campaigns, Malik said.
Marty will be available to all of Walmart’s advertisers that buy search ads in Walmart Connect Ad Center in the first half of this year. Malik said that Marty will also expand to Walmart’s other ad formats this year.
“Over time, you can imagine Marty playing a role as a cross-surface tool where you can go and help an advertiser invest in any of the surfaces where we can help them drive sales,” Malik said.
Walmart is also betting on creative applications of gen AI for advertisers this year. A tool called Automated Creative Generator helps advertisers spin up creative like background for product photos. Walmart claims that the tool reduces production time by 80%.
More broadly, Malik said that advertisers are increasingly investing brand-oriented budgets as well as performance budgets with Walmart. In one example, Walmart began pitching advertisers on connected TV campaigns last year after acquiring smart TV manufacturer Vizio.
“Advertisers are increasingly asking us, ’Hey, you’ve been helping us with performance solutions—help us with upper funnel as well,’” Malik said.
