26/Pierce

If you’re in the business of producing experiential campaigns within retail stores — “retailtainment,” as it’s coming to be know — then there really can’t be a better partner in the current economic climate than Walmart, the retailer that’s posting better sales and traffic numbers than just about anyone else.

And Pierce, founded almost 20 years ago and acquired by Omnicom in 2003, finds itself in that enviable position, having worked with the Bentonville, AR, big-box retailer on the fall 2008 Walmart Wellness Center program. That six-week in-store campaign drew crowds to 1,000 Walmart Supercenters for events on health topics such as diabetes, heart health, colds and flu, and women’s health.

Each weekly event was sponsored by a pharmaceutical company and two over-the-counter products, and each featured wellness ambassadors, branded take-home content and an online feature at Walmart.com. The first phase of the program created more than 20 million impressions and 900,000 personal interactions, and lifted incremental sales for the participating sponsors to as much as 440% of the pre-program base.

“The program was totally conceived by Pierce and Walmart,” says Pierce CEO Bob Martin. “It’s notable for its scale: We implemented in 1,000 Supercenters in phases one and two, and we’re about to go into 2,000 Supercenters with the third phase in August. It’s a good example of a campaign that makes sense both for Walmart and for its suppliers.”

Other notable campaigns in the last year include a Fashion Week New York activation for Kraft’s Lu cookie brand and a mobile tour for the Water Smart technology behind Scott’s Miracle-Gro grass seed.

About four years ago, Pierce set up a measurement and analysis team to study the impact of experiential campaigns. “We’re pretty far along on being able to develop measurement systems for our clients,” Martin says. “And since our client list includes Procter & Gamble, Walmart and Kraft, they’re some of the most sophisticated measurers in the business.”

Live events have a threefold impact for brands, he says, in creating consumer attitudes, in motivating action and in drumming up brand advocates, people who will go out and spread the brand message to their friends. Martin says Pierce is able to put a yardstick to those impacts, both predictively and post-event.

“We’ve taken a lot of the mystery out of experiential and brought it down to the nuts and bolts,” he says.

PROMO 100 SPOTLIGHT: Event/Experiential

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