Constellation Brands Helps Walgreens Win with Wine

Knowing there were opportunities to reach adult beverage shoppers for gifting as well as instant-consumption occasions, Constellation Brands set out to make Walgreens a go-to location."Walgreens isn't the top wine retailer out there," said Constellation Brands director of shopper marketing Tracy Frisbie during a March presentation at the Shopper Marketing Summit. "[While] Walgreens identified that its shoppers were buying more consumables, a lot of people don't associate wine with Walgreens. There's low awareness. And if they did know, they assumed the selection wouldn't be a quality selection."Working with Momentum Worldwide, Constellation Brands set out to understand the Walgreens shopper and his/her propensity to buy adult beverages at its stores. "We wanted to focus on the instant gratification and grab-and-go segments because those represented 40% of their customers, a third of their total sales and about half of adult beverage sales," said co-presenter Jennifer Olliges, vice president, director, Momentum Worldwide. "We needed to understand their shopping missions, their purchase drivers and barriers, their media influences, engagement and the best time to influence."Constellation, Momentum and Walgreens agreed that additional research was needed, in the form of both qualitative focus groups and quantitative surveys. "There was a ton of information we took to Walgreens to sell in the program," Olliges said. "We digested it. We found out about the Walgreens shopper, and what was important to adult beverage. Then we overlaid it with the Constellation consumer information."To position Walgreens as "a premier convenience destination for adult beverages and focus on opportunistic shopping behaviors in the category," the partners needed to target shoppers in the mindset to make an immediate or last-minute purchase. "We had to engage in spaces, places and moments when shoppers are thinking about an imminent social occasion," Olliges said."Once we got Walgreens excited about this opportunity, we had to determine which of our Constellation products would be the best match for the program and drive sales for Walgreens," Frisbie said. "And we had to blend our segmentation with Walgreens' segmentation and come up with a whole new layer of segmentation."The partners found that:Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi wines were a match for Constellation's "everyday loyal" consumers and Walgreens' "grocery stop" and "look good, feel good" shoppers.Rex Goliath wines were a match for Constellation's "price driven" and "engaged newcomer" consumers and Walgreens' "instant gratification," "grab and go," "grocery stop" and "look good, feel good" shoppers.Svedka vodka was a match for Constellation's "image seeker" and "engaged newcomer" consumers and Walgreens' "instant gratification" and "look good, feel good" shoppers.Constellation also had to determine what the occasions would be. "Our mission was to enhance the affordable, social experience of at-home gatherings," Frisbie said.The partners then developed their overall shopper strategy related to brand (provide quality choices), shopper (instant gratification and the quality), occasion (e.g., at-home adult gatherings) and retailer (create a destination for convenience). "We wanted to give consumers a convenient, last-minute solution to help make a smart impression," Olliges said. The result was an "Arrive in Style" campaign communicating that "no matter the occasion, partygoers can swing by Walgreens for the drinks they need to arrive in style."The seasonal (January-February) platform focused on Super Bowl, Valentine's Day and awards season. It included "pre-shop" activity that addressed the barrier of shoppers' lack of awareness, "shop" activity that addressed the barrier of Walgreens shoppers being too focused on finding specific products, and "post-shop" activity that addressed the barrier of shoppers not having a good reason to share or return for purchase.The pre-shop activity included Facebook ads, mobile messages using geo-location technology and print/digital circular ads. The shop activity included destination endcaps, shelf signage and neck tags. The post-shop activity included Facebook advertising during Valentine's Day and awards season.According to Frisbie, results showed increases in sales velocity, net sales, activity engagement and category sales. Plus, Constellation secured a yearlong platform that will continue during the summer gathering and winter holiday time periods. "It was a huge win," Frisbie said. "We increased brand sales and helped Walgreens increase category sales. We drove more traffic to adult beverage. And we were able to help establish Walgreens as a go-to location for gifts – especially wine gifts."

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