Big Box Black History

This year marked a historical year in black history. As celebrations happen in communities throughout the world, there are also things going on online. The three best known Big Box stores (Walmart, Target and Kmart) have found their way online to celebrate black history month. They all took very different approaches and formed interesting partnerships for their initiatives. Below is a short summary of what you will find at their sites.

Since 2005, Walmart has created a microsite every February for Black History Month. Walmart’s OurVoice, this year, focuses on the individual and families.

Walmart is here to help you do just that. Through Walmart´s partnership with Ancestry.com, you will be able to research your family´s origins, learn the importance of family history, begin discovering your heritage through articles, beginner´s instructions and applications, and find the resources to start unraveling your past.

Walmart also created a really nice myspace page, that will serve as a place for current history makers to come together.

Share with others through the OurVoice MySpace community. And find out who will be recognized for making an impact in the community with the Impact Awards, sponsored by Walmart.

Walmart has also partnered Tavis Smiley to promote his traveling black history museum called America I am, that can also be found on twitter @AmericaIAmExhib.

Target’s Dream in Color seems to be a continuation of what they did last year. Instead of focusing on the family, Target has made the choice to focus on female trendsetters and artist.

Target Honors the Accomplishments of African American Women We’re celebrating Black History Month this year by introducing four amazing women who contribute to the proud legacy of African Americans.

There is also a very clear retail slant, as the people in their video heavy site talk about how wonderful it is to shop at target. There are no real community integration aspects, but the video production is great. They also formed partnerships for their initiative, the Smithsonian Museum and Scholastic.

Kmart’s Share the Word took a different approach with their online offering. Rather than focus on Black History, the focus seems to be saving, specifically, women shoppers saving. There is also an instant win contest for a Trip to NYC for a taping of the Steve Harvey morning show, and a quiz (Walmart had one of those too), but apart from that, the site doesn’t really seem to be capturing the essence of Black History. Their partners for this initiative are, the Steve Harvey Morning Show and Mocha Moms.

All in all the sites are doing very different things, and all have different benefits. I like Walmart’s the best simply because they tried to integrate meaningful community interaction, whereas, Target really seemed to take time to create an impactful online experience. As for Kmart, it is nice to see they did something, I just wish it didn’t feel like it was put together at the last minute.