Overview
Nerf isn't one brand — it's a family of sub-brands each with their own audience, aesthetic, and product line. Building a single shopping experience on walmart.ca that could serve all of them without flattening their differences required a more dynamic approach than a standard brand store. The solution was an interactive category selector that didn't just filter products — it transformed the entire page environment in real time. The project also introduced individual product reviews and testimonials to walmart.ca's custom shopping experiences, a first for the platform.
The Brief
A parent shopping for a Nerf Rival blaster and a kid looking for an N-Strike Elite starter set are having completely different shopping experiences. The challenge was designing a single page that could speak to both — and to every other Nerf sub-brand — without forcing shoppers to wade through irrelevant products or losing the distinct personality of each line.
The Approach
Rather than using standard dropdown or checkbox filters, we designed a scrolling carousel of sub-brand logos as the primary navigation mechanic. Selecting a sub-brand didn't just filter the product grid — it dynamically swapped the hero banner to match that sub-brand's visual identity, creating an immersive environment tailored to each product line. Like other projects in this series, this dynamic banner-switching capability was custom-built within walmart.ca's platform constraints and informed subsequent developments on the platform.
Key Features
— Dynamic hero banner
— hero section updated in real time based on selected sub-brand, creating a distinct visual environment for each product line
— Scrolling sub-brand carousel
— logo-based navigation mechanic allowing shoppers to switch between Nerf, N-Strike Elite, Nerf Rival and other sub-brands instantly
— Product reviews and testimonials
— individual product-level social proof integrated into a custom shopping experience, a first on walmart.ca
— Embedded video content
— product demonstrations and brand content within the retail environment
Campaign Support
The experience was supported by run-of-site placements, native traffic drivers, and social media ads driving qualified traffic across Nerf's broad audience demographic.
Results
The dynamic banner approach solved a problem that static filters couldn't — making each sub-brand feel like its own destination within a single page. The introduction of product reviews and testimonials to the platform's custom experience format added a conversion layer that had previously been unavailable to brand store campaigns on walmart.ca.
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