• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, April 6, 2011

In a bid to strengthen its positioning as a wellness brand, Walgreens is launching Walk With Walgreens, and will sponsor 5,000 community walking events around the country.

Consumers sign up and then log in their steps on Walgreens' dedicated website, earning rewards from such brands as Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Johnson & Johnson, as well as gym chain Lifetime Fitness and Famous Footwear. Those who participate in live events get a pedometer and logbook; others can download digital tools on its website.

"Walgreens' brand purpose is to inspire wellness, and certainly everyone knows there's a pharmacy in the back of the store," Leslie Meredith, account director at Arc Worldwide, the marketing services arm of Leo Burnett that created the program, tells Marketing Daily. "But you could say that about any of its retail pharmacy competitors. This program was created as a way to make that positioning come to life. We're not just saying we stand for wellness in an ad, we're getting out into local communities and proving it."