Category — Marketing Organization
Walmart Life
Marketing chief Stephen Quinn taps into Walmart’s past to shape its future. When you get right down to it, everything — and nothing — has changed about Walmart in the 50 years since Sam Walton built his first store. Stephen Quinn, Walmart’s marketing chief, appears determined to keep it that way.
“What we’re really selling to people,” says Stephen, “is that they can count on us for their everyday needs at the lowest price. Keeping that interesting is tricky because it will be the same promise three years from now.”
It was also the same promise 50 years ago, which is why Stephen drew on something Sam Walton said a long time ago to arrive at Walmart’s modern-day tagline: “Save Money. Live Better.”
“Sam Walton talked about how Walmart would help the world save money and have a better life,” says Stephen. “We had reams of research and tested all these different taglines and then we just looked at what he had said and thought, hey, that’s pretty good.”
Living up to that deeply rooted principle is very much at the heart of Walmart’s past, present and future. Stephen is convinced that Walmart’s growth depends on “keeping that promise to more people.”
Such fidelity to the past requires changing with the times, too. It means navigating the vagaries of today’s fragile economy while pioneering the frontiers of social media and the newly empowered shopper.
These and other realities has Walmart launching a Facebook page for each of its more than 3,500 US stores, as well as tweaking the role of its famous greeters and communicating “low prices” in new ways.
It also has Walmart realigning its merchandising and marketing operations, so it can better integrate the two and keep the focus where Sam Walton always said it must be — on the shopper … read >>
May 1, 2012 Comments
Do The Math
The future belongs to those who measure the total brand experience. By Al Wittemen. Each and every one of us has endured our share of pain over the last several years. In all my years in marketing, it’s safe to say I’ve never experienced anything quite like the last five. It now appears that the worst of the economic calamity is behind us, but it would be foolish to think that the pain is over.
In fact, in many ways, it is just beginning. A recent IBM survey of 1,700 chief marketing officers across 64 countries spelled out the sources of our discomfort. It identified some of the biggest challenges facing chief marketing officers, each of which is a pervasive and universal game changer … read >>
January 1, 2012 Comments
Fun With Ford
Global marketing chief Jim Farley makes innovation the powertrain at Ford. By Tim Manners. The phone buzzes and it’s Jim Farley on the line. “Hey, Jim! How’re you doing?” “Me?” says Jim. “I’m high as a kite!” After a deft pause for comedic effect and a mischievous chuckle, Jim says he’s just having fun. “If we can’t have fun,” he says, “then what the heck!”
No question but that Jim Farley, global marketing chief of the Ford Motor Company, is having fun. And if he’s not high as a kite, he has every right to be. Two years after stunning the auto industry by leaving high-flying Toyota for low-hanging Ford, he and his compatriots do indeed seem to be defying gravity.
How did that happen? Well, it’s kind of complicated, but it does have a lot to do with a single, simple word: innovation … read >>
January 1, 2011 1 Comment
The Fourth Circle
Innovation in execution is the quickest route to victory. By Al Wittemen. I’m sure you’ve read The Art of War, written by Sun Tzu in the 6th century. What? You haven’t read my favorite marketing book? It framed a lot of things for me early on in my career, and there’s a famous quote in it that says: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.&rdquo
This wisdom speaks to me because, as marketers, we too often overlook the importance of execution. Innovation is typically lavished on the development of a big idea, but we need to apply the same level of creative thinking to the execution of our campaigns — especially shopper-marketing campaigns because the field is growing so rapidly … read >>
January 1, 2011 Comments
The Hub 37
The entire Jul/Aug’10 issue of The Hub (44 pages), centered on brand identity, including an interview with Jeanne Jackson of Nike and 13 other articles. (download pdf)
July 1, 2010 Comments
True Loyalty
What comes after the circular? Retailers pinpoint better ideas. By Spencer Hapoienu. (pdf) or (text)
March 1, 2010 Comments
Cracked Rear View
March 1, 2010 Comments
Smooth Selling
Integrated Selling drives bottom-line sales and better brand performance. By Paul Kramer.
(pdf) or (text)
January 1, 2010 Comments
Think Big!
Embrace strategic planning as the great opportunity to build loyalty that it is. By Jim Doucette.
(pdf) or (text)
November 1, 2009 Comments
Six Appeal
November 1, 2009 Comments
Big ‘G’ Identity
The future of brand identity both depends on and departs from its past, says General Mills CMO Mark Addicks. An exclusive Q&A interview by Tim Manners.
July 1, 2009 1 Comment
Minding the Store
July 1, 2009 Comments
The Hub 31
The entire Jul/Aug ’09 issue of The Hub (44 pages), centered on brand identity, including an interview with Mark Addicks of General Mills and 13 other articles. (download pdf)
July 1, 2009 Comments
ConAgra Culture
Consumer and shopper insights converge in ConAgra’s culture of collaboration. An exclusive Q&A with ConAgra Foods CMO Joan Chow by Tim Manners.
May 1, 2009 Comments
The Hub Top 12
May 1, 2009 Comments
The Big Shift
Corporate culture needs to view consumer culture through a new lens. By Dori Molitor.
May 1, 2009 Comments
Shopper-Friendly Culture
May 1, 2009 Comments
