Over the past five years, Walgreens and AARP have driven the Walgreens Way to Well Health Tour throughout the continental US and Puerto Rico. This mobile community outreach provides free health tests, education and consulting services to some of the most underserved communities.

And with the 10,000^th free health screening on the horizon, we engaged influencers in addition to traditional media. After pitching hyper-local media in the Oakland area, we grabbed the attention of Carla Birnberg of MizFitOnline.com, Claudya Martinez of UnknownMami.com and Letty B. of San Francisco’s 99.7 Now FM station. All three have a focus, tie and/or interest in fitness, health, early detection and healthy living.

Carla, Claudya and Letty B. let the people of Oakland know about this commemorative event and invited consumers to come out for free testing (a $100+ value). Garnering nearly 500,000 impressions for the Walgreens Way to Well Health Tour with AARP, these three proved the value of integrating local influencers into the marketing mix.

Today, local bloggers and influencers have become an integral part of our in-market campaigns as they connect with their communities in a personal way. From the red carpet premiere of Iron Man 3 with Verizon FiOS SoCal to the fresh smoothies and foods of the Walgreens Upmarket: Fresh bus, influencers show the power, worth and value of their voices.

Beardyman
Pucsifer
Dr. Schlomo & The GI Clinic
Dinosaur Jr.
The Chelsea Clintons

If you answered DS&GIC and The CCs— I’ve given myself creative license to nickname them— you’re either a pop-culture maven, a true music enthusiast, or you just watch a ton of late night TV. Both are fake bands from a Jimmy Kimmel spoof on attendees of the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s hilarious. The other three are real life bands that were actually on the docket for the 2013 year.

We can joke about how ridiculous this is, because, even if the skit is faked, it’s true. Gone are the days of music festivals being about the music and the music only. Especially at Coachella.

Every year, MW activates sponsorships at hundreds of music shows of various sizes and genres. They all offer a different type of demographic for our clients in a captive, entertaining environment. And depending on brand goals, are excellent places to reach a consumer.

We’ve seen all the trends come, go, then come back again. After returning from the 2013 Coachella festival, and having been for the past several years, we’ve realized that while it is about the music, it’s also about the cultural significance. It’s evolved from a massive rock show into a budding lifestyle so many youth strive to achieve. It’s a weekend of celebrity, see-and-be-seen, fashion, influence, art and excess. Oh, and music.

It can be difficult for brands to succeed in a place where so many are subservient to corporate culture, but if you seamlessly weave your way into this lifestyle, these influencers might just end up on your side. How?

Don’t hide your goods: Got an awesome product? Great! Don’t trick people into using it or signing up for anything they don’t want. Be approachable and let consumers choose for themselves. Genuine handshakes and conversations go a long way.

Gonna share, don’t care: People don’t go to festivals and keep it to themselves. Cell towers are brought in to ensure sharing, sharing and more sharing through social media; after all, sharing builds hype for the festival. While the ‘likes’ and RTs are SO socially rewarding, man do they eat away at battery life. Give consumers a place to charge their phones so conversation continues. You’ll drive traffic to your activation, which drives hands-on product interactions.

Let me upgrade, upgrade: Don’t try and compete with the festival experience: enhance it. Consumers aren’t dropping $300+ to chill in a branded tent all weekend, yet providing organic reasons to visit might cause them to walk away a new brand advocate. Provide entertainment. Charge their phones. Hand out shades. Give them respite from the heat. Allow chances to win VIP upgrades for free.

Despite the cynics, these lifestyle festivals have evolved and will continue to do so. We all have different motives for spending money, and whether it’s to see Dinosaur Jr. or Paris Hilton, the end goal is simple: have fun. When done right, brands will become associated with that fun and find their sponsorship incredibly effective.

In the meantime, I heard The Chelsea Clintons just released a new album and I’m totally going to download it.

By Ellie Meyer, Group Account Manager, Client Services

Coachella Ferris Wheel, 2013

In partnership with Marketing Werks, these influencers also inspire their communities by becoming part of our hyper-local activations. Marketing Werks has expanded its relationship with this powerful group because these women work, live and play where Marketing Werks’ client campaigns work, live and play.

Mommy Bloggers, with a significant send of pride for where they live, exemplify the culture that makes their community different.  They seek to engage with its experience, and are deeply involved in its causes.

That’s why this trusted group has naturally become an important part of our in-market campaigns. From Red Carpet reporting at the premiere of Iron Man 3 and toiling elbow-to-elbow with Verizon FiOS at a Habitat for Humanity project to rallying a fitness-focused crowd at Walgreens Way to Well health testing events and toasting a taste of fresh foods aboard the Walgreens UpMarket: Fresh Bus at the South Beach Food and Wine Festival, Mommy Bloggers are eager to play a part in client work.

In honor of Mother’s Day, Marketing Werks salutes this community of mothers, their endless enthusiasm and their infinite power.  Start connecting with them in their neighborhood, both live and virtual.

By Cindy Kosydor, Senior Director of Public Relations

What makes our people so intriguing? Maybe it’s the fact that they are diverse – we pride ourselves in recruiting people from various backgrounds with different personal and professional experiences. And if you look closely, you’ll see there are common threads of traits: enthusiasm, compassion and aptitude, or “talent.”

Our culture embraces and supports these characteristics and we continue to engage Werkers through a variety of human capital initiatives.

In 2012, we launched Marketing Werks University (MWU), a curriculum of 16 topics facilitated by MW internal subject experts as well as external trainers. MWU, developed and tailored from our employees’ feedback, meets the needs of Werkers, no matter their department, and overall agency objectives. We continue to add new topics and obtain feedback following each session to ensure topics and discussions remain relevant and effective.

We’ve also launched an Expert Speaker series, inviting industry experts to share perspectives on a variety of business topics. These quarterly speaker events are another way to inspire innovative thinking from our Werkers.

Another form of  employee engagement came in the form of a new Performance Appraisal system. Through a collaboration process, we developed a system to gather peer and management feedback based on defined core competencies and position requirements.  After completing our first annual reviews with this new system, we received positive feedback about the tools and their impact on professional growth.

We also encourage our Werkers to contribute in the communities they work and live. Our volunteer program MW Cares gives every employee one (1) paid day off to volunteer at a non-profit organization of his/her choice.

In summary, our people are the best thing about working at and with MW. Individually and collectively, people make the difference. And we invest in them.

By: Alexa Bazanos-Sato, VP Human Resources.

Over the past 12 years, we’ve met those very enthusiasts at festivals and events in the US and Canada with our Char-Broil mobile tour. Though with recent tours, we noticed consumers wanted to engage in greater detail about the grilling experience as a whole.

For 2013, we’ll use that knowledge and focus on events and festivals celebrating the art of BBQ. These event attendees, armed with grilling knowledge, engage with our staff on specific grilling tips and tricks for juicy eats.

Our consumer engagements encourage grilling aficionados to approach us for conversations about TRU-Infrared technology while peppering juicy samples into the mix.

Now that’s a job well done.

 *2011 State of the Barbeque Industry Report

For tour stops this summer, please follow Facebook, Twitter and #TRUTour2013

Connecting with food aficionados, we changed their perceptions of what they and their community can receive from Walgreens. This prompted many to wonder if their neighborhood store was one of the Well Experience stores.

To make “Up Market: Fresh” more relevant for locals, we created specialty smoothie drink flavors of Glades Green and Miami Heat.

Consumers did more than just stop by our truck for samples—they gave their followers on social media a taste of these latest offerings from Walgreens. We saw social media impressions increase by more than 100% and tweets mentioning “Up Market: Fresh” increased by 64% after this stop at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival Food Trucks.

Super Bowl XLVII was no exception as we brought Verizon coverage to eight different activations throughout 12,000 square feet of New Orleans. With Fan Zone, NOLA 10 anniversary events, NFL House and Hospitality and Game Day Fan Plaza; football fans, media and locals alike participated in art workshops, scavenger hunts, Super Bowl struts and a Drew Brees Hurricane Sandy Benefit Concert, all while learning about and discovering Verizon devices and apps.

A few of our favorite activities were the Super Sticker Station (3,700+ fans put their faces on an NFL player’s body) and Plaza Reporter (videos with our camera crew posted online) generated an additional 10,000 impressions. Though if truth were told, fans could not resist the Verizon Prize Claw and the chance to nab prizes including autographed items.

Our New Jersey office saw reigning champ Tim S. take home the top prize yet again and in Chicago, we had our first ever vegan chili take the top prize. Thanks to Lizanna and Jessica for proving to us all, it’s not about the meat. Out in Southern California, apparently everyone was a winner. See below for some pics from each office’s competition.

Jay Lenstrom, Chief Marketing Officer

We are over a month into 2013 and already it’s shaping up to be one of the most exciting years in our industry since 2002. A bold statement given the myriad storms we’ve recently weathered – the recession, election year jitters, fear of the Fiscal Cliff. But there are two big trends I’m seeing that have me fired up:

1. Business getting back to growth.  In fact, “Growth without FEAR” is in the strategic plans for most companies
2. Recognition across the industry that engaging with end users (B2B, B2C, B2G, you name it) is still the most powerful way to influence people

Both speak to the fact that engagement is different now. Our business of one-on-one engagement was built in the early 90s on the backs of soda, beer, tobacco and automotive companies trying to reach the 21+ college crowd. Consumers, the marketing landscape and the brands playing in it have all changed.

It’s the new brands in our space that make me most excited for 2013.  Our business has evolved to reach large sectors of consumers, once considered “too big, too secretive or too complicated” to engage directly.

It takes courage to talk directly to consumers and give them that access to your brand. Social media helped remind marketers the importance of relationships, opening the door for engagement marketing in three particulars verticals they would have never considered only a few years ago: technology, financial services and, especially, healthcare.

Today, all three know that truly influencing consumer behavior (let alone generating meaningful relationships) is difficult, if not impossible today, just by national messaging. Instead, they’re moving in the other direction: hyper-local marketing. Creating messages that work demographically. Geographically. And psychographically.

These verticals are going beyond selling products. They’re influencing consumer behavior to create change for extremely large audiences.  In just the last few months, we’ve been asked how to identify the 80 million pre-type 2 diabetics, the 34 million+ “under and unbanked consumers” and the 13 million middle and high school students bullied every year. And that’s just a naming a few of them.

Serious issues require conversations and relationships. That’s why healthcare, financial services and technology are engaged in engagement.

Exciting times are upon us.

Our event staff couldn’t help but test out our green screen karaoke

Knowing this, we saw an opportunity to make more of Verizon Wireless’s association with How Sweet the Sound^® concerts. This highly-anticipated and attended event is a gospel choir search, celebrating music and creating a lasting impact on churches and neighborhoods across the country.

We created an event space specifically for these gospel concert events. Our already existing Verizon street teams stopped by these concert events and engaged concertgoers in a more memorable way.

To cater to this digital and mobile demographic, we created virtual coupon offers and interactive photo overlays as attendees demoed the latest smartphones and apps available from Verizon. With smartphones in hand, we created harmony between consumers and Verizon.