The initial rollout of expanded merchandise includes fresh produce, frozen meat and fish, pasta, rice, beans, eggs, whole grain cereals, and prepared foods to be cooked at home. All 10 stores in the first wave are in Chicago, but Walgreens mentioned the potential to expand to other markets as well.
While the grand opening was localized, rather than a nationwide celebration, Walgreens did host an official kickoff community celebration at one of the participating stores. The event featured guest speakers including the city mayor, radio celebrities and local officials. All speakers focused on educating attendees about healthcare management plans, with a particular focus on diabetes care and prevention.
The celebration also featured other health-conscious activities, such as blood pressure screenings, a fitness demonstration, free healthy-food samples, and giveaways. Walgreens may carry a variety of general merchandise in their stores nationwide, but their overall focus is on community health.
Walgreens' strategic public relations move here was to shift the focus from re-vamping their stores (and simply having ribbon-cuttings to announce new products) to their larger corporate goal of encouraging and supporting community health. They partnered with other influential organizations to show their investment in the communities where they have stores, rather than focusing solely on a marketing campaign to sell products. Walgreens makes a conscious effort to appear as community partners in neighborhoods nationwide, rather than another corporate giant taking up space on every street corner.
Taking action to improve local health portrays Walgreens as a caring company, interested in the greater good of its customers. This message is less to do with marketing specific products, and more to do with helpful services offered, which is PR that they don't have to buy. This is where Media Relation(ships) (or M.RELA as I called it all summer on my timesheet at my internship!) are crucial to
spreading the word that Walgreens is a good neighbor.
Walgreens prepared a press release for these store openings which is posted on their web site. They did not offer contact information for a spokesperson, which leads me to believe (or hope, for the sake of their relationship-building efforts!) that they posted a slightly different version to their external web site, compared to the version they would have sent out to media professionals in the Chigago area, because not only is that where the new stores were being opened, but it's also where the company is headquartered. While it's impossible to know how exactly they disseminated the news release, phrases from the release did show up in various online sources, including industry blogs and a news site focusing on Manhattan, so the story branched out as Walgreens discussed bringing their "oasis" to other food deserts.
In this case, it was less about publicizing the opening of these stores and more about generating buzz to entice customers to come in and try the food eventually-- it didn't necessarily need to be on the first day, because that first day festival I described before only happened in Chicago, where now stores are open in New York too. Generating interest in this concept starts with the industry bloggers, but there wasn't much mention of this new concept to the masses.
My assumption is that because these stores already existed, customers didn't need to be sold on the idea of shopping at Walgreens-- they already do. That's why this concept was expected to work out so well. Bringing fresh food to places that consumers already frequent seems the most effortless way to encourage shoppers to eat fresh foods and consider their health. Walgreens tried to create one-stop shopping in markets that didn't already offer as many fresh-food options, which is why their idea seems to be a good one. This is where in-store PR/marketing/advertising is necessary. Once the shoppers are in there, whether it's to buy prescriptions or shampoo, Walgreens needs to ensure there are attractive displays in the front of the store to direct shoppers to the new department.
Using Google Alerts to follow Walgreens has shown several mentions of this pilot program (mentioned second-most to robberies and other criminal activity!), so the media was indeed picking up the story. However, this story would be of most interest to consumers in the specific areas that are effected by this change, so media in, say, Idaho or Washington state may not have carried anything about this, and their news hits for Walgreens may be more focused on money-saving coupons and in-store promotions.
One of the most creative PR tactics used in this campaign is naming the city neighborhoods "food deserts" because that's an unusual term to be applied in this situa
tion. To think of Walgreens as an Oasis certainly gives off the "savior" feeling, since it's being compared to water in the desert, an elixir needed to live another day (or the palm tree over there -->) . Okay, maybe that's dramatic, but you get the point. Oasis is a tropical word and attracts readers' interest.
Walgreens definitely had a novel idea-- bringing fresh fruit and encouraging healthy behavior in communities that get little other encouragement to live this way. While their press release was well-written and explained all of the components of the project, I would've liked to see more examples of stories written about them, and I'm most curious to see how shoppers reacted to the new department in their favorite corner drugstore. While their reaction may not be attributed to the company's PR efforts, observing the reactions of one market (Chicago) will be helpful when rolling out the fresh-food sections in other markets (Manhattan). PR professionals must learn by experience, and it's a mistake to skip the evaluation step of any campaign. To ensure success in future endeavors, you HAVE to evaluate. (There-- one thing I remember from PR Research!)
I think they could've made the kickoff events even bigger. Free samples, more healthy ideas, Zumba classes, whatever it takes short of throwing a carnival. To get the word out about something like this, word of mouth between friends is often most effective. Now, friends with blogs are the newest (and most influential!) media source, so personal opinions matter more than ever. While industry blogs featured articles on Walgreens, few smaller publications showed up in Google search results on this topic. Maybe they didn't cover the story, or maybe they're too small to even show up in a search, but Walgreens could've used the media as allies even more. Often, print media is the focus, followed by on-camera too, but people forget the influence FM radio still has, especially in cities, or as people drive through/by in their cars. Local radio (because they had radio hosts at the event too) would've added another dimension to their public relations toolbox of tactics.
spreading the word that Walgreens is a good neighbor.Walgreens prepared a press release for these store openings which is posted on their web site. They did not offer contact information for a spokesperson, which leads me to believe (or hope, for the sake of their relationship-building efforts!) that they posted a slightly different version to their external web site, compared to the version they would have sent out to media professionals in the Chigago area, because not only is that where the new stores were being opened, but it's also where the company is headquartered. While it's impossible to know how exactly they disseminated the news release, phrases from the release did show up in various online sources, including industry blogs and a news site focusing on Manhattan, so the story branched out as Walgreens discussed bringing their "oasis" to other food deserts.
In this case, it was less about publicizing the opening of these stores and more about generating buzz to entice customers to come in and try the food eventually-- it didn't necessarily need to be on the first day, because that first day festival I described before only happened in Chicago, where now stores are open in New York too. Generating interest in this concept starts with the industry bloggers, but there wasn't much mention of this new concept to the masses.
My assumption is that because these stores already existed, customers didn't need to be sold on the idea of shopping at Walgreens-- they already do. That's why this concept was expected to work out so well. Bringing fresh food to places that consumers already frequent seems the most effortless way to encourage shoppers to eat fresh foods and consider their health. Walgreens tried to create one-stop shopping in markets that didn't already offer as many fresh-food options, which is why their idea seems to be a good one. This is where in-store PR/marketing/advertising is necessary. Once the shoppers are in there, whether it's to buy prescriptions or shampoo, Walgreens needs to ensure there are attractive displays in the front of the store to direct shoppers to the new department.
Using Google Alerts to follow Walgreens has shown several mentions of this pilot program (mentioned second-most to robberies and other criminal activity!), so the media was indeed picking up the story. However, this story would be of most interest to consumers in the specific areas that are effected by this change, so media in, say, Idaho or Washington state may not have carried anything about this, and their news hits for Walgreens may be more focused on money-saving coupons and in-store promotions.
One of the most creative PR tactics used in this campaign is naming the city neighborhoods "food deserts" because that's an unusual term to be applied in this situa
tion. To think of Walgreens as an Oasis certainly gives off the "savior" feeling, since it's being compared to water in the desert, an elixir needed to live another day (or the palm tree over there -->) . Okay, maybe that's dramatic, but you get the point. Oasis is a tropical word and attracts readers' interest.Walgreens definitely had a novel idea-- bringing fresh fruit and encouraging healthy behavior in communities that get little other encouragement to live this way. While their press release was well-written and explained all of the components of the project, I would've liked to see more examples of stories written about them, and I'm most curious to see how shoppers reacted to the new department in their favorite corner drugstore. While their reaction may not be attributed to the company's PR efforts, observing the reactions of one market (Chicago) will be helpful when rolling out the fresh-food sections in other markets (Manhattan). PR professionals must learn by experience, and it's a mistake to skip the evaluation step of any campaign. To ensure success in future endeavors, you HAVE to evaluate. (There-- one thing I remember from PR Research!)
I think they could've made the kickoff events even bigger. Free samples, more healthy ideas, Zumba classes, whatever it takes short of throwing a carnival. To get the word out about something like this, word of mouth between friends is often most effective. Now, friends with blogs are the newest (and most influential!) media source, so personal opinions matter more than ever. While industry blogs featured articles on Walgreens, few smaller publications showed up in Google search results on this topic. Maybe they didn't cover the story, or maybe they're too small to even show up in a search, but Walgreens could've used the media as allies even more. Often, print media is the focus, followed by on-camera too, but people forget the influence FM radio still has, especially in cities, or as people drive through/by in their cars. Local radio (because they had radio hosts at the event too) would've added another dimension to their public relations toolbox of tactics.
Walgreens also could've used these events to establish more of a presence in these communities by showcasing their corporate goals that would effect consumers. For example, their health initiative extends beyond healthy eating, to getting flu shots and staying healthy year-round. Walgreens had a captive audience at this event, so they could've used it more to get to know neighbors, consumers, shoppers, competitors, and the media for future outreach on other topics too. Being out in the community would've been a good time to publicize other efforts to be responsible in the community.
