Wal-Mart is dropping its longtime ad agency

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is severing ties with a longtime advertising agency as it struggles to communicate a new image as both a trend purveyor and a low-price operator.

The world’s largest retailer informed Omnicom Group Inc.’s GSD&M; in Austin, Texas, this week that it would not need its services as of Jan. 31. The agency had worked with Wal-Mart for almost 20 years and had developed the motto “Always low prices,” according to a spokesman.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart also said it was reducing prices on generic prescription drugs in 12 more states, accelerating a program begun in Florida last month. The low-priced drugs will be introduced in Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota and Virginia.