• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 12, 2020

Healthcare and pharmacy giant Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) is reviewing its global advertising and marketing services account, the company confirmed today.

WBA reported net advertising expenses of $585 million in 2019 according to its latest annual report. That was down about 12% from 2018.

The firm last reviewed its marketing communications assignment three years ago when it selected WPP. The holding company put together an entity dubbed Team WBA to service the account.

The remit included traditional and digital advertising, media investment management, promotion and relationship marketing, public affairs, media relations and communications.  

Team WBA established hub offices in Chicago, London and New York with Grey and MediaCom serving as key contributors to that dedicated unit.

The holding company declined to comment on the review. 

A WBA spokeswoman said that the company’s current three-year contract with WPP expires later this year and that it is “standard procedure to do an RFP at the end of a contract." She confirmed that WPP "has been invited to pitch and will certainly be a contender.”

As to other potential contenders the spokeswomen said “the pitch is by invitation-only and we aren’t commenting on who else has been invited to join.”

The review, she added “is aimed at taking advantage of the rapid changes and evolution that WBA, the healthcare industry and the marketing and communications industries are all going through in order to create hyper-personalized customer experiences to better meet their needs.”

She said the company plans to stick with the current model where a single holding company handles all aspects of its marketing and communications globally.

MediaLink has been retained to assist with the review process.

Vineet Mehra, WBA’s Global Chief Marketing Officer issued this statement: “Consumer behavior, and needs, are continually evolving and changing rapidly. We’re transforming our business across every consumer touch point – pharmacy, retail and digital/omni-channel– to provide a modern, differentiated retail experience to help meet these changing needs. Our Mass Personalization marketing strategy reaches customers more deeply and more personally, and one of the key enablers of this strategy is how we leverage our first-party data and pair it with martech capabilities to create a unique and personalized offer for customers.”

This story has been updated.