Walmart CMO Tony Rogers Heading to New Role at Sam's

Walmart is sending its chief marketing officer, Tony Rogers, to fortify sibling Sam's Club in the newly created role of chief member officer, Ad Age reported Monday.Boasting strong momentum but outsold by rival Costco, Sam's Club will be a new challenge for Rogers, who told Ad Age he relishes the idea of working with a membership database for the first time, playing the underdog and increasing a relatively small e-commerce business."When I look at the Sam's brand as a marketer, I see a lot of untapped potential, kind of how I saw the Walmart brand when I came here 12 or 13 years ago," Rogers told Ad Age.Rogers added that he doesn't foresee rolling out any big national campaigns for Sam's akin to what Walmart does. "The opportunity is more about understanding the customer or member and then translating those things to new services or products," he said.He won't move to Sam's until late July, though Rogers indicated Walmart is already set for the rest of the year with holiday advertising and in-store presentation already in production. His replacement at Walmart has yet to be named.Rogers ascended to the role of Walmart cmo in January 2016, and in his tenure helped bring together management of its web and retail teams with the goal of delivering an experience that better reflects how today's shoppers move across channels."He also consolidated Walmart agencies under a single Department W banner, led by Publicis Groupe and Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, but including independents such as Mono and Lopez Negrete, along with a new media agency — WPP-backed Haworth — which replaced Mediavest," Ad Age reported.Previously, Rogers was cmo for Walmart China, where he worked for Sam's Club chief executive officer John Furner.Prior to joining the China team, Rogers held a variety of roles in Walmart's U.S. marketing organization including senior vice president of marketing and vp, advertising. Before that, he spent several years in brand marketing roles at PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division.

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