IRL by Walmart

Intelligent Retail Lab (IRL)

The Challenge
The Intelligent Retail Lab (IRL), a joint venture between Walmart and tech incubator Store No 8, was created as a real-world proving ground for the future of AI in retail. With a physical footprint inside an operating Walmart store, IRL needed a brand that could speak to two fundamentally different audiences: the technology and enterprise community watching the experiment unfold, and the everyday shoppers moving through the store.

The Opportunity
IRL’s mission was big — to explore how AI could streamline retail operations, improve customer experience, and redefine what’s possible in physical retail. But to deliver on that ambition, the brand needed an identity that felt both credible to the tech world and accessible to the average shopper. It couldn’t lean too far into tech jargon or corporate positioning without alienating in-store customers.

Our Approach
We partnered closely with the IRL team to develop a brand identity that was intentionally open, approachable, and grounded in curiosity. Our work included:

• Strategic Positioning: Framing IRL as a platform of possibilities — an optimistic, exploratory space where technology meets the real world.
• Brand Narrative & Messaging: Crafting clear, human language that balanced technological innovation with everyday relevance.
• Visual Identity: Designing a modern, minimalist identity system that reflected IRL’s technology credentials without feeling cold or inaccessible.
• In-Store Experience: Extending the brand into the physical environment, ensuring that shoppers could understand the experiment happening around them without feeling like test subjects.

The Impact
The result was a brand that created space for possibility — giving IRL the credibility to speak to enterprise audiences while keeping the in-store experience friendly and transparent. It positioned IRL as a first-of-its-kind experiment in AI-powered retail, inviting shoppers and technologists alike to imagine what the future could look like.