In 2025, Walmart sought to continue the brand’s cultural engagement strategy in the Hispanic market by celebrating individuals who are pushing their culture forward by owning their identity, challenging conventions, and reinventing the way things are done.
In responding to this desire to create a deeper emotional connection with the Hispanic American audience, NGLmitú mounted the 3rd consecutive season of our impactful, award-winning mitú | Walmart Filmmaker Mentorship Program, elevating four Latine filmmakers through an 11-week creative journey to produce their own original short films, all while integrating Walmart into culturally resonant storytelling meant to uplift and inspire.
Our primary goals for the campaign were to:
Season 3 of our program aimed to apply best practices learned over the previous two years, providing our new cohort of (4) filmmakers with a top-quality experience while serving our social community.
Season 3 saw the return of Oz Rodriguez, the prolific director / writer who participated as a mentor in our Season 2 program - this time, with Oz as the primary mentor in Season 3, the filmmakers got more dedicated face time with him across several in-person and virtual sessions, and his input was a driving force in the development of their original short films.
As the production company on the films, NGLmitú provided the filmmakers with resources, infrastructure, and support, including access to mitú Studios in LA and further mentorship from our creative and production teams.
The journey of our 4x Season 3 filmmakers was captured throughout their experience by NGLmitú and the filmmakers themselves, resulting in a dynamic mix of 60+ pieces of co-branded digital and social content distributed across multiple NGLmitú social platforms and aggregated on a co-branded hub via our O&O website:
Season 3 culminated with a premiere showcase of the short films at the Miami short Film Festival, featuring a panel conversation with Oz and the filmmakers. We also held a second screening in Los Angeles in partnership with the New York Latino Film Festival, with another panel anchored by entertainment journalist Elijah Gil. Both screenings garnered additional social content coverage from NGLmitú and resulted in strong earned amplification across the 200+ attendees.
In addition to the short film funding, mentorship, and industry screenings, the program provided the filmmakers with more benefits, including:
Despite a fast-tracked timeline, the filmmakers, their mentor, our team at NGLmitú, and our partners at PubW and Walmart came together to create another impactful year of a campaign that has gained significant traction in the multicultural media and entertainment space.
Season 3 proved to be an all-around success. To start, S3 saw a 100% increase in applications, based on the traction this program has brought to the multicultural creator space.
The branded content produced by NGLmitú and posted by our social platforms, the filmmakers, and Oz Rodriguez garnered 63M impressions and 400K engagements, representing a huge increase from Season 2. We saw more than triple the clicks to our Walmart-branded hub (versus S2).
Audience sentiment was again overwhelmingly positive, with people extending congratulations to the filmmakers while praising the initiative’s commitment to amplifying Latino creative voices.
Additionally, in S3 we were able to secure 20+ pieces of earned media coverage, resulting in a value of $70K+ to Walmart. Highlights included a Pix11 NY “Latinos In Hollywood” Segment with NGLmitú CRO Joe Bernard and New York Latino Film Festival director Calixto Chinchilla, and a NBC6 South Florida segment with S3 filmmaker Sophia Costanzo.
With the ample resources, benefits, and access provided by the program, NGLmitú and Walmart helped another cohort of filmmakers complete their passion projects, giving them tools to take on the next legs of their careers.
Along the way, the program brought a 2% lift in purchase consideration, a 8% lift in brand perception, and an incredible 15% decrease in competitor purchase consideration to Walmart.
The results proved that there is a desire among the Latino community to see more Latino stories being told, and Walmart was effectively positioned as a brand who champions those stories.
