WUWM Strategy Philosophy: American Values vs. Wal-Mart’s Values

From the outset, the strategic rationale behind the WakeUpWalMart.com (WUWM) campaign was the belief that America’s consumers, much like voters, intrinsically care about whether or not a company reflects their values. This “Values Matter” argument is the basic strategic philosophy of the WUWM campaign.

"…we do not want our customers to have to make the choice between value and values, saving money or shopping responsibly."
-GSD&M, Wal-Mart Positioning Report, Wal-Mart’s Advertising Agency 1987-2007

The significance of the “Values Matter” rationale has been consistently reinforced by internal research (i.e. a series of internal public opinion polls and focus groups conducted by WUWM throughout 2005, 2006, & 2007) showing that all types of Wal-Mart consumers, when presented with the choice, care more about their values than Wal-Mart’s intrinsic EDLP value. In fact, it is safe to say nearly every demographic group of Wal-Mart’s consumers will change their shopping behavior, to some degree, in order to avoid what is best described as the “Wal-Mart Values Conflict.”

Launching a New Strategic Focus: Winning Over Wal-Mart’s Core Customers

Since the launch of the campaign in April 2005, WUWM has pursued a multi-phased media and grassroots strategy with the goal of educating consumers about the negative effects of Wal-Mart’s business practices. During the initial phases of the WUWM campaign, the message was targeted to expose these “Wal-Mart value conflicts” among specific populations – including progressives, Democrats, women, and upper-middle class shoppers. As a result, the message focused on highlighting the facts about Wal-Mart’s record which mattered most to these target populations (such as poor wages, unaffordable health care, salary caps, and the gender discrimination lawsuit).

Our initial strategy made sense given Wal-Mart’s efforts over the last two years to try and expand its business into new demographic, socio-economic and geographic markets that, in particular, had been dominated by Target. In order to break into these markets, Wal-Mart put together a very expensive public relations strategy to try and upgrade its stores and its image. To date, in part because of our successful strategy, nearly all of Wal-Mart’s efforts to remake the company and break into new markets have ended in failure. In fact, Wal-Mart has pulled one of its fashion lines from its stores, ended its participation in Fashion Week, and has seemingly abandoned its efforts to get into NYC. Most importantly, while Wal-Mart focused its efforts, time and merchandise on its failed attempt to change and reach new customers, Wal-Mart suffered its worst annual same-store sales growth in 27 years.

Faced with sluggish sales growth and an inability to overcome its image problems and expand its market base, Wal-Mart has essentially abandoned its plans to become ‘Target’ and, instead, has said it would like to get ‘Back to the Basics’ and focus on its core customers. Therefore, as a complement to our strategy of focusing on our original target populations of Democrats, women, and upper middle class shoppers, it is now time for WUWM to launch a new phase of the campaign to specifically target Wal-Mart’s core customers (i.e. Southerners, Republicans, & low income earners).

The overall goal of this new strategic effort is twofold: (A) win over Wal-Mart’s core customers to our campaign; and, (B) continue to build pressure on Wal-Mart to pursue real changes that substantively improve the lives of its workers and their families, as well as the health and welfare of the nation. In order to achieve these goals, WUWM will launch a series of coordinated paid media and grassroots campaigns/actions targeting both Wal-Mart’s Southern Core Shopper and conservative Republicans. The ads and the actions will seek to educate these core Wal-Mart groups about the ‘Wal-Mart facts’ that will disturb them the most. The ad campaigns will specifically target southern media markets, as well as specific TV and radio shows with many Republican & Southern conservative viewers/listeners.

The first initiative we will launch as part of this new strategic phase of the campaign will be the WUWM 2007 “Summer Southern Blitz.”

2007 Summer Blitz, Phase 1: China & Wal-Mart vs. America

According to WUWM’s internal research and message testing, Wal-Mart’s longest-term core customer, the Southerner, is deeply concerned with whether a company reflects his/her Southern values. One of the Southern values we have identified to have special importance is the “love of country,” “patriotism,” and the belief that all Americans must “sacrifice to make this nation stronger.” Overall, the message which we have determined to have particular resonance with this group of Wal-Mart consumers is best described as “Patriotic Shopping.”

Among Wal-Mart’s many business practices which elicit particularly strong negative reactions from these “Patriotic Shoppers” is the fact that Wal-Mart has a close and intensifying relationship with Communist China. “Patriotic Shoppers” are increasingly concerned about Wal-Mart’s explicit role in shipping American jobs overseas, the growing U.S.-China trade deficit, and the understanding that companies, like Wal-Mart, are helping China get stronger at the expense of American jobs and America’s national security.

Aside from China, another issue with “special” sensitivity for both Southern Conservatives and Republicans is Wal-Mart’s role in opposing 100% scanning of port security containers, thereby leaving the country vulnerable to terrorist attack. Wal-Mart’s core customers are shocked to learn that Wal-Mart, and its lobbying association, Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), oppose 100% scanning of port containers over concern that improved security measures would “slow” down Wal-Mart’s imports.

Therefore, as phase 1 of the 2007 Summer Southern Blitz, WUWM will launch a new paid media and grassroots campaign in early June to expose how Wal-Mart’s close relationship with China is needlessly hurting America.

In the first of these TV spots, entitled “It’s Just Not American,” WUWM will emphasize Wal-Mart’s radical departure from Sam Walton’s vision and emphasis on “buying American” to a policy that can best be described as “buying anywhere but America.” The TV ad can be viewed at WakeUpWalMart.com beginning May 31, 2007.

2007 Summer Southern Blitz: Phase 2: Targeting Conservative Republicans

In the summer of 2006, WakeUpWalMart.com launched a series of campaigns, including a 19-state, 35-city, 35-day national bus tour, to educate Americans, in particular Democrats, about how Wal-Mart’s values are not American values or Democratic values. Beginning in early July 2007, WakeUpWalMart.com will launch a series of coordinated paid media and grassroots actions that will target Republican consumers and specifically challenge Republicans to stop ignoring Wal-Mart’s negative effect on issues that are at the core of the Republican base (i.e. Wal-Mart’s role in - Outsourcing of Jobs, Trade Deficits, China’s Growing Power, Port Security, and Abuse of Taxpayers).

Details of the new initiative entitled, “Think Wal-Mart Reflects Republican Values? Think Again” will be made available in early July 2007.

Summary

The 2007 Summer Blitz represents a dramatic new phase of the WUWM campaign. Since the campaign’s inception in April 2005, this is the first series of coordinated campaigns with the expressed goal of targeting Wal-Mart’s core consumers – Southerners and conservative Republicans.

While Wal-Mart may discount this new phase in the WUWM campaign, recent statistics suggest that Wal-Mart ignores this “Values Conflict” at its own peril. In fact, contrary to Wal-Mart’s public pronouncements, publicly available statistics support the central fact argued by WUWM and GSD&M that “Values do Matter”:

• 14% percent of Wal-Mart’s shoppers are now “Conscientious Objectors” (Wal-Mart Segmentation Study)

• 67% cite Wal-Mart as the discount store they shop at most often – a decline over the past two years when the score hovered in the mid-seventies range (GSD&M, Fall 2006)

• A majority of liberal Democrats have an unfavorable opinion of Wal-Mart (Pew Research)

• Overall, Wal-Mart’s public image ranks near the bottom, with Exxon and Halliburton, among major corporations surveyed (Pew Research)

• Traffic Declines at Wal-Mart stores (WMT Sales & Earnings Releases)

• Slowest annual same store sales growth in 27 years

• Largest monthly same store sales decline in 28 years

In sum, we believe that this new phase of the WUWM campaign will prove critical in continuing to build the grassroots pressure that will finally force Wal-Mart to adopt a series of changes making them not only a better employer, but also a better company.

Appendix: Phases of WUWM Campaign

Strategic Phases of WUWM Campaign – April 2005 to Summer 2007

• Phase 1: Launch Grassroots Campaign
o Begin to Introduce Wal-Mart’s Record to American Public
o Build Multi-State Grassroots Campaign

• Phase 2: Roll-out New Mini-Campaign Strategy
o Incorporate traditional campaign elements (field, political, research, paid media, and internet) with a targeted message during select calendar periods (e.g. 2005 Back-to-School Campaign)
o Launch multi-week Holiday Campaign

• Phase 3: Refine, Focus, & Target WUWM Message
o Utilize specific WMT facts & Message to Target Specific Wal-Mart consumers
o Focus Initial energies on “Most Winnable” Demographics
 E.g. Democrats, Upper-Middle Class Shoppers, and Women

• Phase 4: Rollout Wal-Mart, the Political Issue
o Introduce why Wal-Mart is Political Issue
o Stage Nationwide political bus tour
o Hold preliminary presidential campaign events
o Roll-Out 2006 Mid-term voter education campaign
o Target message to Democrats, Independents, women

• Phase 5: Winning Over Wal-Mart’s Core Consumers
o Introduce new groups to the Wal-Mart issue
o Target Southerners and conservative Republicans
o Roll-out new China/Wal-Mart vs. America media campaign in June 2007
o Roll-out conservative Republican campaign in July 2007