News & Blogs On Wal-Mart’s Ad Campaign
Posted on January 9, 2007 by webteam
Magazines and the blogs round up Wal-Mart’s newest effort to defend its faltering public image.
From BloggingStocks:
Exactly a week after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced a new flexible-hours system for their employees, today it announced a new ad campaign to improve its image and defend its reputation…
Now, this national ad-campaign that is to begin today, aims to paint Wal-Mart as a fair and good employer as well as a positive influence on communities. It takes its case directly to the public in what many call a defensive stance.
From AdJab:
Wal-Mart is once again launching a PR initiative disguised as an ad campaign playing up what a great contributor to America it is. The new campaign focuses on the home-spun roots of the company and, interestingly, includes a 30-second spot on the health insurance it provides its employees. The price and length of the campaign is unknown.
From Advertising Age:
As the tumultuous Wal-Mart ad agency review drags on, the retailer’s corporate-affairs department is stepping into the vacuum.
Wal-Mart’s ‘Sam’s Dream’ was produced by Blue Worldwide of Washington, a division of Wal-Mart’s PR firm, Edelman. with a national TV campaign resurrecting Sam Walton’s legacy in two political-style spots designed to burnish the retailer’s besieged image.
From BloggingStocks:
I don’t know if I would go so far as to believe Wal-Mart’s reputation has affected its bottom line yet, but I sure find the timing of the campaign ironic. It seems some companies always believe that spilling money on ads will fix the things that need fixing instead of actually addressing the problems.
From CensorSpace:
Moreover, it seems to me that Wal-Mart won’t win with any ad campaign. Their business model is inflexible and their bottom line is unlikely to change with public pressure or public acceptance. As such, an ad campaign seems like the actions of a lonely kid worth billions of dollars looking to gain friends in the public with some clever rhetoric. They can spend millions of dollars advertising their virtues and history but no one is going to like or dislike Wal-Mart any more than they already do.
