Walmart CMO William White on brand evolution and marketing in a pandemic

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Amid a year of global crises — a pandemic, widening economic gap, sustainability challenges and an overdue reckoning on racial inequality — William White did what so many others did in 2020: he started a new job remotely from the confines of his basement. The role: CMO of Walmart.

The world’s largest retailer makes headlines — both good and bad — on a daily basis, providing its chief marketer with a challenging remit that comes with plenty of attention. When Walmart ranked ninth on this year’s LinkedIn’s Top Companies list , I reached out to White and asked him to reflect on the year and where the brand is heading.?

One theme that stood out in our conversation? Walmart’s employees — referred to as associates — play a critical role in the evolution of the retail giant’s branding. This is particularly true of its in-store associates.

A STORIED HISTORY

Earning a top 10 spot on LinkedIn’s Top Companies list means Walmart is not only a company that job-seekers covet, it’s a place where people can build long-lasting careers. (See the list’s methodology here .) With 1.5 million U.S. employees, Walmart is the largest private employer in the country. More than 366,000 of its U.S. associates have been at the company for 10 years or more; of that group, 17,500 have worked for Walmart for 30 years or more.?

Walmart saw banner growth in the past year, as consumers flocked to Big Retail for essentials during the pandemic and as the company rolled out its Amazon Prime competitor Walmart+. To keep up with demand, Walmart says it hired more than 500,000 associates in its stores and supply chain locations in the first six months of the pandemic.

The company emphasizes the career growth available to employees, which is a key component of retention. Walmart says 75 percent of its store management team started as hourly associates, and many in the executive suite came up the ranks, including President and CEO Doug McMillon, U.S. President and CEO John Furner, and U.S. COO Dacona Smith.?

Given its size, the retailer is no stranger to public scrutiny. It remains in the spotlight on issues around the minimum wage and the pay disparity between its executives and its in-store employees. The brand recently announced a move to increase hourly pay for 425,000 frontline associates and reported it would make two-thirds of its U.S. hourly store associates full-time employees, up from 53 percent five years ago.

The late Walmart founder Sam Walton had his fair share of critics. But he’s also remembered as a revered businessman and retail pioneer who prided himself on “breaking everybody else’s rules.” Early on, he stressed the critical role associates play in developing the brand and made associates an integral component of his famous 10 Rules for Building a Business . Walton’s story and the company’s nearly-60-year history remain embedded in its operations.?

Understanding that history was critical to White’s onboarding as CMO. Having spent seven years at Target prior to taking his new role, White had kept a close eye on competitor Walmart. But he turned to Walton’s posthumous 1993 autobiography, “Made in America ,” to learn directly from the source.

“Any good marketer has to be a student of the archives,” White says.

WALMART’S BRAND

Now White is charged with spreading a brand message both internally and externally. Separating the two, he says, is “not a recipe for success.”?

The employer brand and the consumer brand “are one in the same,” White says. “Everything communicates.” And while White says he doesn’t believe the core of the brand has changed, this moment “really causes you to get to the root of what's important.”?

So, what’s important? White says Walmart is focusing on the “live better” part of the company’s tagline, “Save Money. Live Better.” And what living better means has shifted in the last year, he says, it’s much more than saving people time and money.??

Since White joined, Walmart has launched several brand activations taking advantage of the retailer’s parking lots, offering free, contactless family activities like drive-in movies and a holiday drone light show . White calls these efforts “generous brand gestures,” and says they’re attended by customers including associates and their families.?

The retailer also speaks up on social issues. In 2020, Walmart announced a $100 million commitment to creating a Center for Racial Equity following the killing of George Floyd. It also set a goal of becoming a zero emissions company by 2040.

Such initiatives aren’t about playing politics, White says, noting, “We’re not a political organization.” Instead, it’s about reflecting the values of its associates and its customers.?

Earlier this month, the company took a stance on hate crime legislation in Northwest Arkansas that followed a series of laws targeting transgender people in the state. Many impacted transgender youth specifically.?

White says the legislation “goes against inclusivity and treating everyone as equal. And that's been something that our associates have been loud about. The company has taken a stand because it's about how we treat each other, which is core to who we are.”?

MARKETING’S ROLE

For Walmart, “our associates are our customers,” White says. “91 percent of America shops at Walmart. We've got to make sure that our marketing efforts are done in a way where everyone feels seen, heard, and welcome.”?

True to Sam Walton’s intention, associates continue to be an extension of the brand itself.?

“Every touchpoint you have with the brand impacts your perception of the brand,” White says, “and for many people that primary touchpoint they have with the brand is in the store with the associate.”?

Over the last year, Walmart store associates have taken on another role: Ad campaign stars.?

“We're telling the story of the brand, and who better to tell it than the people who are the face of it and live it?” White says.?

“Spark ,” a campaign that launched in late 2019 and continues today, puts associates front and center. A national ad highlighted associates as heroes in their communities and featured CEO Doug McMillon thanking them in a straight-to-camera selfie video.?

And while store associates have been included in Walmart marketing efforts before, the company says Spark is more “overt” in how it shares associate stories. In some ad spots, they shared personal stories and were featured with their name and title, the company says.

“During COVID our associates were heroes,” White says. “They're on the front line. And they're doing a very hard job to help the 4,700 communities that we have around the country. And they deserve to be recognized.”

The associate focus threads through Walmart’s corporate communications, where employees are featured daily on social media. A recent post put a spotlight on a Kentucky associate who’s an EMT and saved a customer’s life by performing CPR. Another features a Georgia team lead who earned a college degree with the support of Walmart’s Live Better U program, which allows associates to earn a high school or college degree for $1 per day.

“It's understanding who is that individual associate,” White says, “And what are the opportunities that they've had as an associate for Walmart, and how have they served the customer.”?

HOW WALMART MARKETING IS EVOLVING

White has brought in new initiatives, including the installation of a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Creative Review Board. It’s made up of rotating volunteers from the marketing team who review everything from the brief and strategy to casting and content cuts to “ensure that unconscious bias in the creative process isn't playing out,” White says.??

So, why join Walmart’s marketing team??

“You're coming to a company that has the size and scale and scope and power to really do meaningful things for the country. When you look at the big macro issues of the day,” White says, “the largest employer in the country...can make a difference. And when Walmart makes a move, it has a really big ripple. You come to Walmart for that big opportunity.”?

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