Wal-Mart Marketing Chief to Step Down
11 December 2015 - 7:30AM
Dow Jones News
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s longtime chief marketing officer is
leaving, and the retailer is reaching outside the company for some
help by bringing on a former marketing guru at Target Corp.
Stephen Quinn, who has been Wal-Mart's marketing chief since
2007, is expected to retire in January, at the end of the
retailer's fiscal year, according to people familiar with the
situation. Mr. Quinn wasn't immediately available to comment.
Wal-Mart is planning to hire Michael Francis, who spent nearly
three decades at Target and was an architect of Target's cheap-chic
image, as a marketing consultant, said a person familiar with the
situation. Mr. Francis will initiate a broad revamp of Wal-Mart's
marketing department and will likely work closely with Mr. Quinn's
eventual successor, this person said.
Wal-Mart declined to comment, and Mr. Francis didn't respond to
requests for comment.
The shake-up adds to a growing list of executive changes the
world's largest retailer has made in recent months as CEO Doug
McMillon works to spur a turnaround and focus the company's
investments on long-term goals like boosting e-commerce sales and
making stores more efficient, as well as appealing to higher-income
shoppers. In October, Wal-Mart said longtime CFO Charles Holley
would retire at year's end and Steve Bratspies would become chief
merchant.
Mr. Francis is finishing up a nearly three-year stint at
DreamWorks Animation SKG, where he served as chief global brand
officer. But the marketing executive is best known for a nearly
27-year career at Target, where he helped forge some of the
retailer's well-known designer partnerships, like a line of home
goods designed by architect Michael Graves and limited runs of
luxury items from fashion houses like Missoni.
The hiring of Mr. Francis by rival Wal-Mart is likely to rattle
Target executives who look down on their chief big box rival. "If I
was still working Target, my heart would just sink," said a former
Target executive.
Since Mr. Francis left Target in late 2011, his career has been
mixed. He jumped to J.C. Penney Co. to serve as president under
then-CEO Ron Johnson. But Mr. Francis lasted only eight months in
the role as Mr. Johnson implemented what turned out to be a
disastrous strategy to try to wean customers from discounts.
Executives blamed the sales decline on poor marketing that offered
little detail on product or pricing.
Mr. Francis briefly advised Gap Inc. after leaving Penney. He
joined DreamWorks in 2013, where he oversaw branding and licensing
as well as consumer products for the movie studio. In August, he
said he would step down from his role at DreamWorks.
Wal-Mart executives say they are working to attract more middle-
and upper-income households, something Mr. Francis excelled at
while at Target. "Globally we know growth will disproportionately
come from middle- and upper-income households in the years ahead,"
said Mr. McMillon during an investor presentation in October.
Mr. Quinn, a former marketing chief for PepsiCo's Frito-Lay
North America division, joined Wal-Mart in 2005. He created the
retailer's "Save money. Live better." slogan. During his time at
Wal-Mart he helped convince a wide swath of executives to value
marketing at a company that has not always done so, say people
familiar with his tactics.
The exit of a marketing chief often results in changes to a
company's advertising messaging or the agencies the company
employs. Wal-Mart now works with the Martin Agency, a unit of
Interpublic Group of Cos., among others. Media buying is currently
handled by Starcom MediaVest, a unit of Publicis Groupe SA.
Ad-tracker Kantar Media said Wal-Mart spent an estimated $902.4
million in U.S. ads in 2014, not including digital video, social or
mobile advertising.
Suzanne Vranica contributed to this article.
Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com and Paul
Ziobro at Paul.Ziobro@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 10, 2015 15:15 ET (20:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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