MarketingInsideOut.com

This from AdAge today: 

MBA’S MAY BE A MARKETING LIABILITY — New Study Finds Those With Degrees Underperform.

Marketing executives from 18 underperforming companies — which had sales grow 7% less than their categories on average in the two years ended August 2005 — were twice as likely to have been recruited out of M.B.A. programs than marketing executives from out-performing companies, which averaged growth 6.2% faster than their categories over the two years. Of executives from underperforming companies, 90% had M.B.A.s vs. 55% at outperforming companies.

Hummm…

Love it or hate it…it’s a very well known brand.  Everyday low prices.  Smiley faces that fly through the store rolling back prices.  If you want to buy it cheap…go to Wal-mart.  For better or worse, their brand has been crystal clear and consistent.

But to try and boost sales and achieve growth like that of Target (5.6% same-store increase vs. 3.4% for Wal-mart) they’re trying to get the 86% of Americans they say shop there at least once per year to spend more time and money. So on Wednesday Wal-mart will open a new kind of Supercenter in Plano. TX — one that has nice bathrooms  (a welcome change if you’ve ever been in a restroom at one their stores) and sells sushi, brie and cabernet.  And to entice shoppers further, you’ll be able to grab a cappuccino and lounge in a comfy chair to surf the net on the store’s Wi-Fi.   The new store design is a test to see what works.

What I can’t get to work in my head is how they believe their well-entrenched brand can extend to embody this new concept and not work against what they are trying to test.  Seems to me like they are trying to “hip” it up and be like Target, but in my mind there is nothing hip, stylish or chic about Wal-mart’s brand.  It’s about down-to-earth bulk and bargains.  Somehow bulk, bargain sushi makes me a bit squeamish.