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Too sexy for Wal-Mart ad executive heads to reality TV

Zac Bissonnette — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:59:00 EST

Filed under: Television, Wal-Mart (WMT), Marketing and Advertising, Scandals

What would you do if you were fired from your job as a top advertising executive at Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) after a torrid love affair with a subordinate, and then read about the ensuing drama and steamy emails in The Wall Street Journal?

Head to reality television, of course! B-list reality shows have given disgraced former stars like Jose Canseco (The Surreal Life) another 15 minutes of fame, and Julie Roehm wants in on the act too: Fortune reports that Ms. Roehm will be a judge on Jingles, an upcoming CBS show where contestants compete to write jingles for TV commercials. I can't wait to see that one. What's next? Who Wants to be a Roadkill Collector? I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that Jingles will last one season.

She's still living in Bentonville because she hasn't been able to sell her house.

I give some props to Ms. Roehm for capitalizing on her fame, but I think she has to be careful about not marginalizing herself by morphing into a d-list celebrity on the strength of her relationship with a coworker. But she's also running her own marketing consulting firm, so maybe she's keeping it balanced.

Too sexy for Wal-Mart ad executive heads to reality TV originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Julie Roehm strikes back, claims Lee Scott violated ethics

Peter Cohan — Fri, 25 May 2007 17:24:00 EST

Filed under: Management, Law, Wal-Mart (WMT), Scandals

File this under Julie Roehm: avenger. The PR food fight between Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and its former marketing communications chief just got more interesting. I don't know why she picked late Friday afternoon on a get-away-weekend to launch her latest missive but according to the Wall Street Journal, Julie Roehm is alleging that WMT executives violated its ethics policy by accepting discounts on yachts, diamonds and personal gifts from vendors.

To put this into perspective, here's a recap of the rounds so far:

Wal-Mart fires Roehm alleging she accepted gifts from an advertising agency that was later chosen to handle WMT's ad account (12/06).
Roehm countersues WMT for breach of contract (12/06).
In a countersuit, WMT releases salacious details about an alleged affair Roehm had with a subordinate -- Sean Womack -- accusing her of misusing WMT travel funds on business trips with him. The suit cites one e-mail purportedly sent to Womack by Roehm as saying: "I think about us together all of the time. Little moments like watching your face when you kiss me." (3/07).

And today's round goes to Roehm, who alleges that WMT CEO H. Lee Scott, received "preferential prices" on yachts and "a large pink diamond for his wife" through his relationship with Irwin Jacobs. One of Jacobs's companies, Jacobs Trading, has the exclusive right to buy unsold WMT merchandise.

Continue reading Julie Roehm strikes back, claims Lee Scott violated ethics

Julie Roehm strikes back, claims Lee Scott violated ethics originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 May 2007 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Julie Roehm says Wal-Mart charges invalid -- one for the obviousness files

Sarah Gilbert — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 14:35:00 EST

Filed under: Law, Wal-Mart (WMT), Marketing and Advertising, Scandals

Ever since I first started learning about Julie Roehm and her work, and subsequent abrupt dismissal, as advertising executive for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), I saw a major disconnect. As I wrote at the time of her firing, Roehm "was fast cars, sex and rock-and-roll to Wal-Mart's Buicks, family values and Barry Manilow." Whether or not the allegations -- Roehm's calling them a "smear campaign" today -- of an improper relationship with marketing VP Sean Womack, and acceptance of special favors from potential clients -- were true, well, really. This is advertising, not government contracting (where, if you're going to be frank about it, this sort of thing goes on all the time, too). It's not like Roehm and Womack could sleep together and somehow sink Wal-Mart's considerable ship.

None of the things of which she's been accused would worry me, were I the management team above her. If she was telling a client he had a good chance of being awarded the contract, when he really didn't? That would be a concern, but she's not accused of that. She's basically accused of having a good time, and not even on the company dime.

Seriously. There are many sordid and terrible things going on in corporate America. Nothing Julie Roehm did, or is accused of doing, even comes close to terrible -- and is only sordid if you live a truly puritanical lifestyle. In her statement, Roehm said "Senior executives at Wal-Mart seemed to feel that maybe change wasn't such a good idea. Perhaps some did not like following or taking the advice of a woman."

Another one for the obviousness files. Wal-Mart should never have hired Julie in the first place -- not because she's not a good, even brilliant, marketing executive. Because they were never prepared to take her advice. Because they aren't her kind of people. If you're not prepared for change, don't pretend like you might. It will only hurt you, and the people who see more clearly than you.

Julie Roehm says Wal-Mart charges invalid -- one for the obviousness files originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Mar 2007 14:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sex, bribes, and lawsuits in Wal-Mart land

Zac Bissonnette — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:21:00 EST

Filed under: Bad News, Rumors, Management, Law, Wal-Mart (WMT), Scandals

In December, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) fired its advertising chief, Julie Roehm, for having an inappropriate affair, accepting gifts from suppliers, and extending business trips to spend more time with Sean Womack, a married Wal-Mart VP, at the company's expense. Now, this is exciting stuff.

Ms. Roehm sued the company for wrongful termination and the company counter-sued [subscription required] her for "using company-paid travel to conduct a torrid affair with a junior executive, of accepting meals and liquor from companies competing for its business, and pursuing a job with one bidder, Interpublic Group of Cos.' DraftFCB."

According to one email (released by Mr. Womack's wife!), Womack wrote, "I feel the need to be inside of your head if I cannot be near you." Ms. Roehm replied, "I think about us together all the time." Eek. She was an advertising executive. You'd think she could have come up with something more creative. Perhaps this explains Wal-Mart's inability to attract the more upscale demographic that Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) is successfully reaching.

Sex, bribes, and lawsuits in Wal-Mart land originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wal-Mart's advertising chief leaves company

Brian White — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 10:15:00 EST

Filed under: Bad News, Wal-Mart (WMT), Marketing and Advertising

The chief of advertising at global retailer Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) has left the company. Julie Roehm, the head of advertising who led the selection of Chicago-based DraftFCB as the retailer's new ad agency, will be leaving Wal-Mart after less than a year on the job. Now that was a short tenure.

It is unclear whether Wal-Mart will reconsider the hiring of DraftFCB or alter its marketing strategy, but given the timing it is likely that Roehm's departure is tied to her decision to hire DraftFCB as Wal-Mart's ad agency. Apparently, the ad agency has has had little success preventing Wal-Mart customers from defecting to other stores like Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT).

In addition to Roehm, Sean Womack -- vice president of marketing -- has also left the company. Hmm -- two marketing execs leaving at the same time? Suspicious. I think Wal-Mart's image as a dirt-cheap retailer is still intact, regardless of its efforts to move into higher-margin goods and even offer organic food and produce to its customers. Can Wal-Mart ever change its focus and image from a retailer of all-things-Chinese-made to higher-margin-retailer-with-appropriate-marketing? That will be like turning the Titanic before it sinks.

Proof is in the pudding, as sales at the retailer have been sluggish. When Roehm was hired and then herself hired DraftFCB, the moves seemed to signal a change in marketing focus to highlight different goods and rely on a more highly targeted approach to reaching consumers. It didn't happen, as Wal-Mart's holiday season advertising message has reverted to being all about low prices. And that may be all it's ever known for.

Wal-Mart's advertising chief leaves company originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Dec 2006 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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