Marisa Thalberg, government vice chairman and leader emblem and advertising and marketing officer.
Supply: Marisa Thalberg
Lowe’s leader advertising and marketing officer Marisa Thalberg has left the store as a part of a broader reorganization, the corporate mentioned Tuesday.
The house growth store has lower her position and moved its advertising and marketing group underneath Invoice Boltz, government vice chairman of vending. Thalberg up to now reported immediately to CEO Marvin Ellison.
Thalberg’s departure is a part of a rising wave of management adjustments within the retail trade. Hole, GameStop and Mattress Tub & Past are a few of the different shops who’ve misplaced C-suite executives. Such shakeups have won steam as stimulus check-fueled spending wanes and a few shoppers pull again on discretionary purchases as a result of inflation. For some corporations, in particular main pandemic beneficiaries like Peloton, it has intended a unexpected and dramatic drop in gross sales.
Lowe’s, too, has noticed a slowdown. Its same-store gross sales have declined previously two quarters. The corporate mentioned it now expects general and similar gross sales for the yr towards the ground of its outlook vary. It had forecast gross sales of $97 billion to $99 billion and similar gross sales to be down 1% to up 1%.
Thalberg stepped into the position in February 2020, a month sooner than pandemic started and fueled a surge of house growth spending. She oversaw a number of high-profile campaigns, together with TV advertisements on ESPN right through the NFL Draft, and an expanded effort to capitalize at the vacation season.
Previous to becoming a member of Lowe’s, she was once Taco Bell’s world leader emblem officer and labored for Estee Lauder, Unilever Cosmetics World and Revlon.
Lowe’s tapped the promoting government to woo shoppers because the store overhauled its broader trade and went extra face to face with greater rival, House Depot. Led by means of Ellison, who joined Lowe’s in 2018, the house growth store has relaunched its site, debuted a brand new loyalty program to chase house pros’ greenbacks and expanded its products combine to incorporate workout apparatus, puppy provides and extra house decor.
It sought after to refresh its symbol, too, and tapped Thalberg to supervise that. On the time of her rent, Ellison mentioned Lowe’s employed her to position a extra fashionable spin on Lowe’s advertising and marketing way, reminiscent of personalizing messages on social media for patrons as a substitute of depending on conventional channels like TV and radio.
Thalberg may just no longer be straight away reached for remark.
Lowe’s mentioned Thalberg’s departure is one in every of a number of company-wide adjustments that took impact on Friday. It mentioned all adjustments are intended “to beef up alignment around the trade and place Lowe’s for luck.”
Its trade that caters to house pros, reminiscent of electricians and contractors, will now be underneath shop operations. Tony Hurst, a senior vice chairman who oversees Lowe’s professional trade, will now report back to Joe McFarland, Lowe’s government vice chairman of shops. He up to now reported immediately to Ellison.
Its on-line group, which up to now was once underneath Boltz’s management, will now be underneath the era group as a substitute of the products group. Mike Shady, senior vice chairman of on-line, will file immediately to Lowe’s Leader Virtual and Knowledge Officer Seemantini Godbole.
Lowe’s CMO position has no longer been stuffed. As an alternative, Lowe’s has promoted Jen Wilson as senior vice chairman of undertaking emblem and advertising and marketing, and she is going to report back to Boltz.
Stocks of Lowe’s are down about 25% up to now this yr, final Tuesday at $192.96.