Podcast Summary: The CPG Guys

Episode: Inspiring Brand Growth with Walmart Data Ventures’ Mark Hardy

Host: Peter V.S. Bond
Guest: Mark Hardy (Senior Vice President, Head of Walmart Data Ventures)
Date: November 15, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode explores how Walmart Data Ventures is revolutionizing the way brands and retailers leverage consumer data for growth. Host Peter V.S. Bond sits down with Mark Hardy following the 2025 Walmart Inspire event to discuss Scintilla, Walmart's insights ecosystem, including new innovations, the importance of data quality, and the creation of a collaborative CPG analytics community. The episode offers a deep dive into the tangible results brands are seeing by engaging with Walmart Data Ventures and how data-driven decision-making is being democratized.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Walmart Data Ventures & Scintilla

• Mission: Creating value from Walmart’s data by bridging suppliers, merchants, and third parties to improve operational efficiency and consumer engagement.
• Scope: Operations now span the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, with over 1,500 attendees from 300+ companies at this year’s event.
  — “We continue to expand… renewed 100% and grew by another 50% our client base.” (04:58, Mark Hardy)

2. Scintilla: The Insights Ecosystem

• Scintilla’s Role: A unified platform enabling transparency and collaboration, democratizing data access regardless of company size.
• Proven Impact:
  — “Scintilla subscribers are growing GMV 15% faster than non-subscribers.” (06:01, Mark Hardy)

3. The Scintilla Insights Model (SIM)

• Four Components:
  • Consumer Mindset: Attitudes, perceptions, and preferences
  • Behavior: What, where, and when customers buy
  • Performance: Sales metrics
  • Outcomes: Business results like incrementality or category development
• Upskilling Users: Introduction of Scintilla Learn, a library of learning modules and certifications to help users (both at Walmart and suppliers) upskill in analytics.
  — “It really is about helping people become more sophisticated at the analytics…as they put the customer at the center of all their decisions.” (07:29, Mark Hardy)
• Holistic View: Moving from siloed supply chain/sales data to end-to-end customer journey mapping.

4. Customer-First and Digital-First Strategies

• Alignment between in-store and online experience, ensuring Walmart fits into customers’ lives—not the other way around.
  — “We have to flip that game...it’s about letting a consumer shop the way they want.” (11:28, Mark Hardy)
• EVP of eCommerce David Jagina:
  — “It’s not so much digital first as it is customer first.” (11:48, Peter Bond paraphrasing Jagina)

5. Platform Integration & Speed to Action

• Unified Tools: Scintilla consolidates attitudinal, behavioral, POS, inventory, and more into a single platform.
• AI Empowerment: Launching AI-driven tools like Data Companion and Research Summaries to interpret data, explain metrics, and accelerate decision-making.
• Seamless Activation:
  — “When we launched Insights Activation…an always-on recommendation engine…a user can activate on the touch of a click.” (13:58, Mark Hardy)
• Transparency: Provides insights into how recommendations are made, helping users justify decisions internally.
  — “It shows the homework…not just some black box.” (17:06, Peter Bond)

6. Data Quality and the Spark Community

• Issue: Traditional survey panels are plagued by low-quality/duplicate/panelist responses.
• Solution: The Spark Community—an invite-only, verified panel of Walmart shoppers, dramatically improving the reliability of attitudinal insights.
• Agile Research: Enables continuous, actionable customer feedback instead of slow, static surveys.
  — “Let’s go to the source…invitation only, verified people. That alone already brings better responses.” (18:42, Mark Hardy)
• Memorable Example: In a product test for scented motor oil, Spark data showed only 5% interest (reality-based), compared to 26% from generic panels—a discrepancy highlighting the value of high-integrity respondents.
  — “It just didn’t pass the smell test… the Spark community being realistic: 5%.” (24:33, Peter Bond / Mark Hardy)

7. Reducing Risk in Innovation

• Better Data, Lower Risk: High-quality, actionable insights minimize costly failed launches.
  — “The underlying issue here is the cost of failure is high… if we can reduce the risk of failure, everybody wins… ultimately the customer wins.” (25:09, Mark Hardy)

8. Merchant & Supplier Alignment

• Single Source of Truth: Scintilla provides one version of data, enhancing collaboration and focusing discussions on driving growth rather than reconciling data sources.
  — “…allowed to have a single version of the truth between suppliers and merchants.” (26:39, Mark Hardy)

9. Pace of Innovation & Team Agility

• Startup Mindset: Walmart Data Ventures operates like a nimble startup, incorporating rapid feedback and constantly reprioritizing to deliver value.
• International Expansion: Growth into Canada and Mexico with rapid tool enhancements.
  — “We are maniacally focused on taking feedback from our customers…” (28:20, Mark Hardy)
• Product Team Shoutout:
  — “I don’t think she [product manager] sleeps.”* (27:18, Peter Bond)

10. User-Centric Simplicity & Community

• Ease of Onboarding: Example: Gelsert went from contract to innovation launch in 2.5 weeks.
• Intentionally Simple: Powerful, sophisticated tools designed for fast adoption and actionable insights, with ongoing user support and learning.
• Knowledge Sharing: Inspire event fosters cross-company collaboration and peer-to-peer learning.
  — “It’s like a GitHub approach… everyone contributes knowledge and benefits. The rising tide lifts all ships.” (34:29, Peter Bond)

11. Looking Ahead: The Future of Scintilla

• Priorities:
  1. Deepening user upskilling for new data integrations and modules.
  2. Advancing AI for data synthesis and actionable recommendations.
  3. Expanding data sets and continuous innovation.
     — “Those are the areas that we’ll really focus on…how we create more visibility…new insights that help us address another business outcome.” (36:00, Mark Hardy)
• Industry Leadership: Peter Bond notes Scintilla has “leapfrogged” past gold-standard industry solutions, setting a new bar for data-driven growth.
• Community: The platform and event foster a sense of shared progress and optimism for future improvement.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Platform Impact:

  “Scintilla subscribers are growing GMV 15% faster than non-subscribers.”
  — Mark Hardy (06:01)

• On Customer-First Mentality:

  “It’s about letting a consumer shop the way they want and us making sure that they have a great experience.”
  — Mark Hardy (11:28)

• On AI and Recommendations:

  “A user can go in, look at the recommendations. It actually tells you how we got to that recommendation. And if a user wants to then activate…they can now send that to Walmart Connects Ad center…”
  — Mark Hardy (15:48)

• On Data Quality:

  “Let’s start with the community itself…invitation only, verified people. That alone already brings better responses.”
  — Mark Hardy (18:42)

• Humorous Product Test:

  “Scented motor oil? …It just didn’t pass the smell test… the Spark community being realistic: 5%.”
  — Peter Bond / Mark Hardy (24:26–24:33)

• On Reducing Innovation Risk:

  “The underlying issue here is the cost of failure is high…If we can reduce the risk of failure by being more precise on what will actually succeed, everybody wins.”
  — Mark Hardy (25:09)

• On Shared Truth:

  “What the tool has done has allowed to have a single version of the truth between suppliers and merchants…”
  — Mark Hardy (26:39)

• On Fast User Onboarding (Gelsert Case):

  “From the minute they signed the contract until their first presentation in front of the merchant…two and a half weeks, Mark. Two and a half weeks.”
  — Peter Bond (31:37)

• On Community & Peer Learning:

  “It’s like a GitHub approach… everyone contributes knowledge and benefits. The rising tide lifts all ships.”
  — Peter Bond (34:29)

Key Timestamps

• [03:23] Walmart Data Ventures mission and remit
• [06:01] Scintilla subscribers outperforming non-subscribers by 15% GMV growth
• [07:29] Four components of the Scintilla Insights Model (SIM)
• [11:28] From digital-first to customer-first strategy
• [13:08] Speed and simplification: One system, AI, and Data Companion
• [15:48] Insights Activation & seamless campaign recommendation/activation
• [18:42] Spark Community and data integrity in customer perception research
• [24:26] Scented motor oil: Quality vs. traditional research
• [25:09] Cost of failure and importance of precision for innovation
• [26:39] One version of the truth for merchants and suppliers
• [28:20] Pace of product innovation and startup culture at Data Ventures
• [31:37] Gelsert case study on onboarding speed
• [34:29] Building community and peer learning at Inspire
• [36:00] Future focus: Upskilling, AI, and new data sets

Conclusion

Walmart Data Ventures, through Scintilla, is redefining how consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands leverage data. The platform’s rapid innovation, focus on data integrity, and relentless drive for actionable simplicity are catalyzing brand growth and fostering a thriving, collaborative analytics community. By putting the customer at the center, uniting teams with a single source of truth, and empowering users with AI and upskilling, Walmart is setting a gold standard for the future of retail insights—one that competitors and collaborators alike are eager to emulate.