John Andrews, senior marketing manager at Wal-Mart, is intent on keeping on-message across all consumer communications with the retailer's "Save money. Live better." tagline.
He is also anxious to partner with suppliers that align their brand marketing with that message.
According to a report by The Morning News, Mr. Andrews told an audience at the Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Wednesday, "Theme integration is a must. You're going to hear that again if you haven't already."
Brands, according to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article, have gotten the message.
Brent Chism, senior marketing manager Coca-Cola, told the paper, "We still build our brands. But when it comes to Wal-Mart, we made sure that we're on board with what direction they're going to go with their big events and find the right items to put in at those events at the right price."
Mr. Andrews, according to The Morning News, told brands to expect "complete integration from the shelf forward. From the shelf, from in-store communications, from external communications, from operations, from any kind of touch-point that the consumer is going to have with your brand and your product, you can expect us to be committed to how we deliver that with the idea of making the shopping experience better for our customers."
Carol Spieckerman, president of newmarketbuilders and a member of the RetailWire BrainTrust, told the Democrat-Gazette, "You have these power vendors who are creating their own marketing plans, which they should, way in advance. But Wal-Mart's message is, those need to be integrated with Wal-Mart's. They're not necessarily just going to take your national advertising and your themes and push them into Wal-Mart."
Discussion Questions: Is the direction or scope of John Andrew's call for brand integration with Wal-Mart's thematic messages unusual in retailer and brand marketer relationships? What do you see as the sales potential behind Wal-Mart's co-marketing message? What is the likelihood of brand compliance?