• by David Goetzl , September 15, 2008

With many retailers struggling, the better-performing Wal-Mart is aggressively investing in advertising, apparently looking to boost share while competitors may be forced to curtail marketing.

A new campaign by The Martin Agency emphasizes Wal-Mart's low prices--a message the company used for years, but has turned away from at times--for household items, including food. The 15-second ads argue that a consumer can save some $700 a year by shopping at the retailer, versus a supermarket. Billings were not released.

Walmart said the spot is augmented by research from Global Insight showing that Americans could have saved some $21 billion in 2007 by purchasing the same food items at the retailer, compared to supermarkets.

(In 2006, the researcher found that the average American family saves $2,500 a year--no matter where they shop--thanks to Wal-Mart's ability to drive down prices across the market.)

Wal-Mart--with a new logo--said the new ad will run through the fall on local stations and cable nationwide. The retailer has also recently been running a significant number of banner ads online.