Effie Case Study: Walgreens Give H20PE to Others

A back-to-school promotion at Walgreens with a decidedly non-school related message, Unilever’s “Give H20PE to Others” effort shed light on the global problem of a lack of clean water in underdeveloped areas and specifically donated more than 13 million gallons of clean water to a community in Kenya through the promotion.Personal care products from Unilever’s Suave, Caress, Tresemme and Axe brands may not typically make the back-to-school shopping list, but they are products needed for the season. Walgreens typically isn’t a back-to-school destination, and the cause effort did get shoppers thinking less about school and more about where their dollars could help, but the promotion gave Walgreens a much needed boost during the period.Unilever and Walgreens worked with the social organization Me to We on the campaign that donated gallons of water based on purchases. Displays carried messaging that urged shoppers to buy more products because the more a shopper buys the more clean water gets donated. For example, one purchase equals a donation of five gallons but two or more products scores a donation of 15 gallons. A range of in-store displays and signage worked with pre-shop tactics such as a custom website and digital media on Walgreens.com, email blasts, video and photo social posts on Walgreens pages, paid search, magazine print ads, circular ads, targeted mobile media and PR.“Give H20PE to Others” helped Walgreens go from seeing 72% of category shoppers ignoring personal care products at the drug chain during back-to-school to generating a 50% incremental dollar sales lift during the season, an increase of 10% compared to a year ago. During the promotional period, Walgreens saw a 16% bump in store traffic and added incremental dollar sales per basket.Interestingly, Walgreens, not really a back-to-school retailer, won the season by distracting shoppers with a good cause. The program spread awareness of the global water crisis and helped make a difference. Shoppers felt rewarded by helping out.

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