Walmart's Chief Marketer to Step Down

Walmart is bringing in a former Target executive to help fill the void that will be left when U.S. chief marketing officer Stephen Quinn leaves the company next month.Former Target chief marketing officer Michael Francis is joining Walmart as a marketing consultant expected to lead a broad revamp of the retailer’s marketing department.Francis comes on board Jan. 1, according to Advertising Age, and will likely work closely with Quinn’s eventual successor. If the company promotes internally, possible candidates include vice president of media and digital marketing Wanda Young and vp-marketing of walmart.com Brian Monahan.Francis is finishing up a stint as chief global brand officer for DreamWorks Animation SKG – which often works on marketing and merchandising initiatives with Walmart. Prior to that he briefly advised Gap Inc. and before that served a short term as president of JCPenney under then-chief executive officer Ron Johnson as the department store chain implemented what was ultimately a disastrous strategy to try to wean shoppers off deep discounts in favor of every day low prices.Yet Francis is best known for the nearly three decades he spent at Target, where he is credited with establishing the retailer’s cheap-chic image and forging some of its best-known designer partnerships.Quinn will retire in January at the end of the retailer’s fiscal year. Marketing chief since 2007, he joined Walmart in 2005, leading the team that created the retailer’s “Save money. Live better” slogan. Reports credit him with convincing executives to value marketing at a company that hasn’t always done so.Hired by then-cmo John Fleming — another veteran Target executive — Quinn endured through the backlash of Walmart’s failed “Project Impact” initiative, which had the retailer clearing aisles and reducing assortment in an effort to better appeal to upscale shoppers.The shakeup is the latest in a growing list of executive changes that began under ceo Doug McMillon, who took office in early 2014, and U.S. ceo Greg Foran, who joined later that year.In recent investor presentations, Foran mentioned again clearing display clutter from stores and McMillon referred to increasing appeal to middle- and upper-income shoppers. The executives are again engineering an ambitious strategy to improve store conditions — will they avoid repeating the missteps of Project Impact?

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

You May Also Like

See What P2PI Has in Store for Future Forward 2024

Future Forward Keynote Announcement: Former Walmart Exec to Talk In-Store Digital Engagement