Unifying Community Mindedness for Claritin and Walmart

As the leading adult and child allergy brand at Walmart, Claritin faced fierce competition. Other brands were using Claritin’s own equity to bolster their efforts, threatening Claritin’s uniqueness in the category. Claritin’s premium price point meant marketing must work even harder to convince shoppers of its value. We were asked to separate Claritin from the category at Walmart while winning the spring season. The answer was to tap into a shared sense of community. We unified Claritin’s existing partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, built on the importance of getting kids outdoors for the simple joys in life, with Walmart’s nationwide support for disaster relief. In communities that suffered natural disasters, parks and green spaces are often the last places to be rebuilt, so we invited Walmart shoppers to help Claritin Bring Back the Joy of Parks and refurbish parks for several BGCA clubs. Mobile messaging put Claritin on shoppers’ lists and led them to our in-store displays where every purchase donated 50¢ to BGCA and gave them the chance to earn shopper rewards. When the dust (pollen and ragweed) settled, the program donated $100K while restoring market share for Claritin at Walmart with a 2.1% sales lift, 4:1 ROI and 6% sales boost for stores with displays.