As covered by Advertising Age, Walmart is in the process of restructuring its marketing team to support the launch of a new business called  the Walmart Exchange, which will buy digital media for their massive supplier network. To support the effort, Walmart expanded the duties of their Chief Digital Officer to include Media, and brought on Branding and Creative executives to oversee agency and internal efforts. This development raises the question of how brands of all sizes are managing the integration of digital technology and media.

Most brands do not have all the talent necessary to sufficiently conceptualize, implement and maintain successful digital initiatives like the Walmart Exchange. To address talent gaps, brands must decide to rely more heavily on their agencies, train existing staff, acquire or organically hire. 

Gainor Staffing helps brands hire the Creative, Paid Search, Media Buying, UX and Product Management talent they need to ideate and implement these initiatives. Gainor’s Digital Account Director Aaron Menkin finds that candidates with digital skill sets have many options and are wary of joining companies that are unsure of the role digital plays in their organization. Menkin finds that the brands that  the most success hiring do the upfront work of getting the CMO, CTO, COO and Human Resources department to agree on the vision for digital within the company, develop a clear staffing structure and carefully scope out each individual role. During the recruitment process, candidates become attracted to this clear vision and are more likely to commit while their other employment prospects drag the process out and struggle with internal incongruency.