As the largest retailer in America, embracing diversity and fostering a culture of inclusion is at the core of Walmart’s brand philosophy of “Live Better.” Making good on that promise begins with reflecting the diverse communities they serve and ensuring that they can offer a better life for all. A key part of this ambition is promoting inclusive stories by fostering diversity in front of & behind the camera.
While Latinos have made great strides over the years to combat underrepresentation in Hollywood, there are still many barriers of entry for young Latino filmmakers who want to bring Latino stories to the big screen. Walmart wanted to demonstrate their commitment to helping these young Latinos thrive and create long-term equitable outcomes, by showing up for their community and interests beyond just cultural moments.
Walmart wanted to give an avenue to diverse Hispanic creators to share who they are and their cultural pride by creating a media partnership that could uplift their voices, amplify their stories and various nuanced identities, and provide access to career-building opportunities to advance their creator journies.
Walmart partnered with NGLmitú, the pre-eminent digital media and entertainment destination for Latinos in America, to foster the next generation of diverse Latino filmmakers with a groundbreaking incubator program. A creative boot camp that put young Hispanic creators in touch with the resources they need to help them bring their creative voices and visions to life.
The NGLmitú x Walmart Filmmaker Mentorship Program was an accelerated six-week filmmaker mentee program running from November 2022 until the end of January 2023. Eight aspiring filmmakers were chosen from a call for submissions on mitú's social platforms, as well as from a network of colleges and universities across the nation. Candidates were chosen based on their personal stories and creative vision. The program provided these Latino filmmakers with resources that helped prepare and better position themselves in front of Hollywood studios and producers. It also provided mentorship from co-founder of NGLmitú - actor, writer, and producer John Leguizamo, who brought firsthand experience to elevate the content and skills of the budding filmmakers.
mitú provided these filmmaker mentees access to their mitúStudios, based in Los Angeles, California, where they had the opportunity to work alongside other Latino creators on multiple projects, including the development, production, and editing of their own short films! Development materials created included Three-Act Structures, Story Circles, Scripts, Shot Lists, Storyboards, and Production Design Mood Boards.
The program took participants through the entire storytelling process, including writing and directing, alongside the award-winning director and Chief-Creative Officer of mitúStudios - Ben DeJesus. To further support each mentee, Walmart provided each of them with a "Creator Kit" consisting of a GoPro camera, sound equipment, lighting equipment, and more to provide the mentees with the resources to keep creating content and perfecting their craft long after the accelerator program's completion.
The partnership included a mix of media elements distributed across NGLmitú's media ecosystem - both their Owned & Operated social brands and multiple social media platforms, which helped raise campaign awareness and amplify the impact of the program. These program elements included:
Custom branded editorial pieces introducing the filmmaker program and selected mentees
Behind the scenes content that served to ramp up visibility around the filmmaker program
Mentor Highlight videos which gave visibility into John Leguizamo’s participation as the program’s celebrity mentor
Program recap videos showing a compilation of the best moments of the program
A Premiere Night Extravaganza: LA's mitúStudios played host for the program's Red Carpet Soirée - attended by family, friends and press, which debuted the eight short films which were developed, produced, and edited by the filmmaker program mentees.
The mitú Hispanic Creators Filmmaker Mentorship Program, powered by Walmart, had a significantly strong impact on the careers of the budding youg filmmakers and provided them such great opportunities for growth and progress. Testimonials from the mentees stated that “This changes everything!!! Thank you so much mitú and Walmart”! With this program, we strengthened brand sentiment among the NGLmitú audience, garnered engagement across social platforms, and amplified awareness of Walmart’s support of the Hispanic creator community.
Walmart & mitú together delivered 6.4 million views on the Filmmaker program content and 25K engagements impressions across over 40 content posts. Through all organic & paid media efforts, consumer engagement was strong with positive sentiment at 82% and consumer perception lift at +10% following exposure.
These results proved that there is a tremendous appetite in continuing to cultivate young U.S. Latino talent both in front of and behind the camera to create strong Latino stories that want to be seen.
