Wal-Mart drops Draft FCB after six weeks

US retail giant Wal-Mart has dropped DraftFCB from its $580m (£295.5m) advertising account just six weeks after appointing the Interpublic-owned agency to the business.

Wal-Mart said the decision was prompted by "new information that has come to light in the past two weeks".

Wal-Mart confirmed that DraftFCB would not be permitted to repitch for the business. It is not yet known if the process will be confined to those agencies remaining in the final round of the first review, which include Ogilvy & Mather, The Martin Agency and former incumbent GSD&M.

The review follows the shock departure of key executives from the retail giant, including its senior vice-president of marketing communications, Julie Roehm, who is believed to have played a pivotal role in awarding the business to DraftFCB alongside media agency Carat USA in October.

Sean Womack, vice-president for communications architecture, also left the company.