Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), which continues to wrestle with the notion of re-inventing itself under former Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) marketing chief John Fleming, has given the old heave-ho to Omnicom, one of the world's largest ad agencies and a longtime Wal-Mart partner. As Wal-Mart continues to try and brand itself as a low-cost good provider with a trendy image -- I'll believe it when I see it -- the world's largest retailer will be dumping a division of Omnicom, much like it did with Bernstein-Rein Co. from Chicago earlier this summer -- and after 32 years together.

What is Wal-Mart trying to do? Make radical moves in its marketing strategy, which are no doubt spearheaded by Fleming. Fleming re-invigorated Target and imbued that retailer with what I consider to be an impeccable sense of style and savvy marketing that filled in a niche that Wal-Mart did little to attract. Wal Mart wants to go for those shoppers who still prefer shopping in a discount environment but want an upscale overall experience.

Ever been into a Target? The aisles are wider, the colors (mostly red) are more vibrant, the stores much (much) cleaner than any Wal-Mart I've seen and the selection of merchandise -- higher-margin merchandise among the standard discount fare -- is not there by accident. Can Wal-Mart try and duplicate this experience by changing ad agencies? Or will ad agencies just re-brand the image of the retailer and create campaigns for different media (television, Internet, newspaper)? The proof is in the pudding -- the stores themselves are the brand, not the image that can become a false portrayal with "creative" marketing.