Now, new and next: Walmart's approach to marketing innovation

This event report describes the approach to marketing taken by Walmart, the discount retailer, to engage with consumers in the US, and focuses on the structures Walmart has in place to ensure continuing innovation.

Now, new and next: Walmart's approach to marketing innovation

Stephen WhitesideWarc

"We think of innovation, and how we allocate our resources, from the standpoint of 'now, new and next,'" Stephen Quinn, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Walmart US, told delegates at the 2013 Masters of Marketing conference, organised by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and held in Phoenix, Arizona.

To implement this philosophy in practice, America's biggest retailer formally commits a significant share of its in-house talent and marketing expenditure to pure experimentation. "We put 70% of our headcount and resources against what's proven, and...

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