Walgreens' BTS Activity Gets a Shot in the Arm

Walgreens made the second flight of its “Get a Shot, Give a Shot” cause campaign the centerpiece of its back-to-school marketing this year.The retailer has promised to donate the value of one shot (up to $1 million) to the nonprofit United Nations Foundation and its Shot@Life program for any vaccination administered in its stores and Healthcare Clinics.Walgreens used multiple touch points to get word out. Although the retailer did not promote a start or end date for the pledge, a July 20 circular feature introduced the offer. The first social media mention came via a July 24 Facebook update that linked to a walgreens.com landing page providing details as well as a store-finder link.Supporting activity included a feature in the retailer’s August coupon book, circular features, continuous promotion on the walgreens.com home page, weekly ad emails, multiple mentions on Facebook and Twitter, local radio spots and various P-O-P materials, including window posters and A-boards. Additionally, a member of Collective Bias’ Social Fabric community touted the program in a blog post using a #getashot hashtag.Last year’s “Get a Shot, Give a Shot” effort launched Sept. 1 and was tied to the retailer’s annual flu shot campaign. (See Related Articles.)Kimberly-Clark’s Kleenex, Reckitt Benckiser’s Lysol, ACCO Brands’ Mead and International Vitamin Corp.'s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vitamin gummies (under a license from Viacom's Nickelodeon) played lead roles in Walgreens’ other (non-cause) activity. Those four brands were depicted on back-to-school-themed ceiling signs above the seasonal aisle, on “back-to-school essentials” Facebook updates, and in the same coupon book feature that promoted the “Get a Shot” effort.Walgreens launched its seasonal activity with a “back-to-school savings” feature in its July 13 circular promoting such brands as Mead, private label Penway and Energizer Holdings’ Energizer.On Aug. 3, a version of the retailer’s weekly ad email featured a back-to-school theme and offered advice on how to juggle a mom’s multiple tasks. It promoted the aforementioned cause campaign, sports and school physicals available at its Healthcare Clinics, and various partnering brands, among them Kleenex, Lysol and General Mill’s Nature Valley.Among other back-to-school activity, Walgreens:promised 10,000 Balance Rewards points with purchase of $30 in qualifying Reckitt Benckiser items. Dedicated endcaps with headers reading “Smart Back to School Savings” stocked the eligible items.employed multi-brand endcaps that communicated a Balance Rewards offer of 3,000 points with purchase of $15 in qualifying products. The displays featured a “Back to School Essentials” header and stocked product from EOS Products, Bic and K-C’s U by Kotex.employed “allergy relief” endcaps from Sanofi-Aventis that used a “Savings U” theme, promoted a BOGO offer and stocked Allegra, Nasacort, Icy Hot, Unisom and Cortizone-10 SKUs.used a circular feature to promote its July 19 “SaturDate with Beauty” events in partnership with Johnson & Johnson’s Neutrogena.helped promote a variety of Nestlé products as “delicious choices” with a coupon book ad.used an Aug. 8 Facebook update to promote Nice! private-label healthy snacks.employed endcaps from Hallmark Cards' Crayola that carry a "Send them back with the best" message.placed in-line displays from Newell Rubbermaid (promoting Sharpie and other brands) in its seasonal aisle, which is dedicated to back-to-school products.

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