Walgreens Taps into Black History Month

Walgreens leveraged February's designation as Black History Month for the latest flight in its Community Corner program, which launched in early 2010 to showcase brands from minority-owned product manufacturers.The drugstore chain promoted the program through circular features and its February coupon book, while introducing a "Community Corner" sticker that will be affixed to packaging for the featured items. Additional support comes from national print ads and radio spots in select markets, along with displays, signs, in-store radio and product demonstrations in certain stores. A dedicated microsite also offers discounts on some products.The African-American-owned companies whose products are featured are: Anika Labs, Bronner Brothers, Danielle Ashley Communications, Firstline Manufacturing Corp., Gallery Guichard, Hightime Products, Johnson Products, Luster Products, Namaste Laboratories, Nicene Brands LLC, Popcorn and More Inc., Professional Products Unlimited, Reggios Pizza, Summit Laboratories, The Crutcher Marketing Group, and The Pepsom Group. The retailer also is promoting six African-American-owned magazines: Earl G. Graves Ltd.'s Black Enterprise, Johnson Publishing Co.'s Ebony, Heart & Soul Enterprises' Heart & Soul, Sister 2 Sister Magazine's Sister 2 Sister, John Lewis Partnership's The Source, and Upscale Communications' Upscale.In 2010, the Community Corner program spotlighted products from companies owned by African-Americans (in February), women (May) and Hispanics (October), driving a 12% sales increase among featured items, according to a Walgreens media release. The retailer plans to expand the program by presenting products from businesses owned by Native Americans, Asian-Americans and veterans. In related activity, Walgreens this month is recognizing the Alzheimer's Association: According to a Community Corner feature in the coupon book, African-Americans are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia, but are less likely than other ethnicities to be diagnosed.

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