DEERFIELD, Ill., May 17, 2021 –Walgreens today announced a new suite of capabilities to offer brands even more ways to connect with its customers, including new offerings and expanding areas where brands can leverage Walgreens uniquely scaled first-party data to drive return on investment. This increase in investment to develop additional capabilities advances Walgreens media focus and builds upon the launch of Walgreens Advertising Group (wag) in winter 2020.
Walgreens Advertising Group capability expansion goes beyond the digital and programmatic realm and into advanced and audience-based television, via over-the-top (OTT) media services, connected TV’s (CTV), and traditional audience based linear TV allowing brands to reach even more customers thoughtfully wherever they choose to consume media.
“At Walgreens Advertising Group we have three principles that are core to our DNA: to help brands deliver more relevant personalized experiences, to support audience-led and channel agnostic media approaches, and to make it easy to work with us,” said Luke Kigel, vice president of Walgreens integrated media and leader of Walgreens Advertising Group. “These new advanced TV capabilities are all in continuance of our principles, and will open new areas of value for our brand partners that mirror our programmatic offering.”
The new offering includes two facets:
Inventory is sourced through over 100 apps and 10 supply side platforms with over 2.5B available impressions daily, including access to inventory from key platforms.
Brands activating against this inventory can do so with all of the same functionality, optimization and measurement capability as in digital video & display executed through the wagDSP. This enables people based media targeting, with measurement and real-time optimization.
“Advanced data is completely transforming the way television advertising is bought and sold. With the next race in marketing focused on access to the most actionable data, Walgreens Advertising Group collaborating with brands and offering insights to deterministic data is something brands need to take notice of,” said David Levy, CEO of OpenAP. “The power of the data and the partnership with OpenAP will make it possible to deploy Walgreens data to better plan, optimize, and measure TV campaigns across all programmers and screens and enable marketers to tie their campaign performance back to in-store purchases.”
Brands working with Walgreens Advertising Group (wag) will now be able to work with the retailer to leverage its scaled and differentiated first-party data, knowledge, and insights to develop media activation, determine optimization, and measure performance in advanced television, as well as digital campaigns. Walgreens unique first-party data serves as an asset combining scale and quality, by connecting 100 million known member profiles with media that is most relevant to their needs. Walgreens has a deep understanding of its customers’ needs through its data, now with accelerated channel reach potential.
To learn more about Walgreens Advertising Group and partnership options, please visit walgreens.com/wag.
About Walgreens
Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) is included in the Retail Pharmacy USA Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA), a global leader in retail and wholesale pharmacy. As America’s most loved pharmacy, health and beauty company, Walgreens purpose is to champion the health and wellbeing of every community in America. Operating more than 9,000 retail locations across America, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Walgreens is proud to be a neighborhood health destination serving approximately 8 million customers each day. Walgreens pharmacists play a critical role in the U.S. healthcare system by providing a wide range of pharmacy and healthcare services. To best meet the needs of customers and patients, Walgreens offers a true omnichannel experience, with platforms bringing together physical and digital, supported by the latest technology to deliver high-quality products and services in local communities nationwide.
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Walgreens Advertising Group capability expansion goes beyond the digital and programmatic realm and into advanced and audience-based television, via over-the-top (OTT) media services, connected TV’s (CTV), and traditional audience based linear TV allowing brands to reach even more customers thoughtfully wherever they choose to consume media.
“At Walgreens Advertising Group we have three principles that are core to our DNA: to help brands deliver more relevant personalized experiences, to support audience-led and channel agnostic media approaches, and to make it easy to work with us,” said Luke Kigel, vice president of Walgreens integrated media and leader of Walgreens Advertising Group. “These new advanced TV capabilities are all in continuance of our principles, and will open new areas of value for our brand partners that mirror our programmatic offering.”
The new offering includes two facets:
- The addition of OTT & CTV inventory now accessible via the wagDSP --- a proprietary programmatic buying technology that integrates Walgreens customer and transaction data with dynamic creative capabilities and real-time optimization.
Inventory is sourced through over 100 apps and 10 supply side platforms with over 2.5B available impressions daily, including access to inventory from key platforms.
Brands activating against this inventory can do so with all of the same functionality, optimization and measurement capability as in digital video & display executed through the wagDSP. This enables people based media targeting, with measurement and real-time optimization.
- A first-to-market collaboration with OpenAP, and integration with the OpenID that enables brands to reach audiences powered by Walgreens first-party data as part of their television buys. The ability for brands to collaborate with Walgreens to execute against deterministic audiences is available now, and closed loop measurement will be in place by the start of the broadcast year.
“Advanced data is completely transforming the way television advertising is bought and sold. With the next race in marketing focused on access to the most actionable data, Walgreens Advertising Group collaborating with brands and offering insights to deterministic data is something brands need to take notice of,” said David Levy, CEO of OpenAP. “The power of the data and the partnership with OpenAP will make it possible to deploy Walgreens data to better plan, optimize, and measure TV campaigns across all programmers and screens and enable marketers to tie their campaign performance back to in-store purchases.”
Brands working with Walgreens Advertising Group (wag) will now be able to work with the retailer to leverage its scaled and differentiated first-party data, knowledge, and insights to develop media activation, determine optimization, and measure performance in advanced television, as well as digital campaigns. Walgreens unique first-party data serves as an asset combining scale and quality, by connecting 100 million known member profiles with media that is most relevant to their needs. Walgreens has a deep understanding of its customers’ needs through its data, now with accelerated channel reach potential.
To learn more about Walgreens Advertising Group and partnership options, please visit walgreens.com/wag.
About Walgreens
Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) is included in the Retail Pharmacy USA Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA), a global leader in retail and wholesale pharmacy. As America’s most loved pharmacy, health and beauty company, Walgreens purpose is to champion the health and wellbeing of every community in America. Operating more than 9,000 retail locations across America, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Walgreens is proud to be a neighborhood health destination serving approximately 8 million customers each day. Walgreens pharmacists play a critical role in the U.S. healthcare system by providing a wide range of pharmacy and healthcare services. To best meet the needs of customers and patients, Walgreens offers a true omnichannel experience, with platforms bringing together physical and digital, supported by the latest technology to deliver high-quality products and services in local communities nationwide.
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