Walgreens, P&G get ‘Big Bang’ out of People’s Choice Awards, hot Twitter campaign

 



The Big Bang Theory may have been the big winner at last week’s People’s Choice Awards, but Walgreens and Procter & Gamble got a pretty big bang of their own from the event, when the two companies leveraged the broad appeal of the highly popular televised event and the power of social media to drive the business and engage customers.

Walgreens once again served as the official retail partner for the People’s Choice Awards and teamed up with Procter & Gamble to help beauty mavens achieve their own red carpet-read look and embark on a healthy, beautiful New Year.

"The [objective] for Walgreen's integration into the People's Choice Awards was ‘starts here’ — the idea that real-life moments start at Walgreens,” explained a spokesperson for Walgreens. “January is the time when people arm themselves with resolutions around wellness and beauty, and through the integration we wanted shoppers to see that Walgreens and P&G products are a great way to start off on a path to successfully achieving your beauty and wellness goals.”

The “Starts Here” theme played out through a number of important activities in the days leading into the People’s Choice Awards, from the sponsorship of the event and the Humanitarian Award, product displays on site and a major social media activation program, includingtwo Twitter parties last week, social posts and a major push against beauty bloggers.

As part of the campaign, users whose tweets included #StartsHere and #PCA had a chance to win a beauty bag that included P&G brand products and a Walgreens $75 gift card. The promotion ran from Jan. 1 through Jan. 12, and featured P&G brands like Cover Girl, Olay, Pantene, Crest, Metamucil, ZZZquil and others play in meeting their New Years resolutions.

Walgreens also once again presented the third annual People's Choice '”Favorite Humanitarian” Award — a sponsorship which helps reflect the company's goal to champion everyone's right to be happy and healthy, a spokesperson explained — to this year’s winner, Ben Affleck, who was chosen in recognition of his work with the relief effort, Eastern Congo Initiative, which he founded in 2010 to help drive investment in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Past recipients of the “Favorite Humanitarian” honor presented by Walgreens include Jennifer Hudson in 2014, for her involvement with the Julian D. King Foundation, and Sandra Bullock in 2013 for her work with Warren Easton High School in New Orleans.

According to Walgreens, branded entertainment, like the People's Choice Awards, allows it to naturally connect with customers in different ways and reminds consumers that Walgreens is a resource to help them live a healthier, more beautiful life.

“We’re able to convey details of our cause-related programs like Vitamin Angels, as well as to highlight relevant products and categories. The platform enables effective call-to-action placements, and gives us the opportunity to remind shoppers that Walgreens makes it easy to be happy, healthy and beautiful,” a spokesperson for the company explained.