Wal-Mart Marketing Woes Draw Scrutiny

The national news media was abuzz on Dec. 8 with stories about Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s dismissal of its lead advertising agency only two days after it fired two senior marketing executives.
Stories in BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times outlined the dismissal of Interpublic Group’s Draft/FCB, which landed the $580 million account just six weeks ago.
Earlier in the week Wal-Mart removed Julie Roehm, its senior vice president of marketing communications, and Sean Womack, vice president of communications. Roehm, who had been with Wal-Mart for less than a year, oversaw the review of the advertising account that selected Draft/FCB.
Anonymous sources told of various events that led to the dismissal of the executives and ad agency.
The WSJ article said “Roehm attended an expensive dinner at Nobu, a swank Manhattan eatery that was thrown by Draft/FCB for a group of new business consultants. The move may have violated Wal-Mart’s strict corporate policy of not accepting gifts from vendors, sources say. Under the longtime policy, designed to keep suppliers from buying business at the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart employees aren’t allowed to accept even the smallest gratuities.”
The NYT article acknowledged that may have been part of the reason, but say it was more of a culture clash between Wal-Mart and Roehm, who was known for “envelope-pushing advertising campaigns.”
The Times article went on to say, “Wal-Mart dismissed Ms. Roehm and a lower-ranking marketing colleague, Sean Womack, after deciding that the pair had a personal relationship that violated the company’s strict ethics policy, which forbids fraternizing with subordinates.”
Roehm denies that she accepted gifts from ad agencies, maintained a personal relationship with a subordinate or showed favoritism toward potential vendors.