Duane Reade Announces Collaboration With Personalized Weather Alert Service, Poncho, To Deliver Actionable Advice And Personalized Product Coupons

NEW YORK, March 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Duane Reade, New York City's largest drugstore chain, part of the Walgreens family of companies, and Poncho, a personalized weather-forecasting service that sends users relevant weather updates tailored to their preferences via text or email, are teaming up to make preparing for the unpredictable New York weather more rewarding and manageable with a pilot program targeted to the New York Metropolitan area consumer.

Poncho users will receive their regular weather updates with select alerts featuring coupons for Duane Reade products that will help them battle the elements and their allergies. Poncho's tailored weather alerts include messages for sufferers of seasonal allergies with special notifications on days when the pollen count is particularly high. On these days, Poncho users will receive exclusive discounts that can be used for specified allergy relief products available in Duane Reade stores.  The initiative aligns with the weeks during which allergy season has shown the sharpest spikes, according to Gallup tracking.

The digital initiative bolsters Duane Reade's established social media prowess powered by its Parallel Persuasion strategy – a marketing approach that generates ROI through omni-channel engagement. It is an equation based on brand advocacy, brand voice, PR integration and conversation relevance. The formula has led to industry recognition with Duane Reade winning the 2013 Silver Hub Prize for "Social Shopper Media and Shopper Marketing campaigns" and is a current finalist for the 2014 Shorty Award for "Best Use of Social Media for Retail or E-Commerce".

"At Duane Reade, we constantly strive to offer our customers what they need now, with one-stop-shop convenience and localized relevance to their everyday lives," said Calvin Peters, PR & Digital Communications Manager for Duane Reade. "Weather is a perfect example of something that impacts people's daily decisions, which is why collaborating with a personalized tool like Poncho affords us another way to provide our customers with products and services that are intrinsic to their individual lifestyle."

"Poncho's ultimate goal is to continue being a trusted resource in helping our community of users plan their daily routines in the same way a weather forecaster would on their favorite news channel," said Kuan Huang, founder of Poncho. "Partnering with Duane Reade allows us to provide a destination for relief to our users instead of simply notifying them that the day ahead will be a rough one. We're looking forward to helping Duane Reade customers during this allergy season and welcoming more users to the Poncho community."  

About Duane Reade:
Founded in 1960, Duane Reade is the largest drug store chain in New York City. In keeping with the company's brand vision of New York Living Made Easy, Duane Reade provides New Yorkers with prescriptions, health products and services, beauty products and services, food and convenience items for daily life in the City...everything for "How I Feel," "How I Look," and "What I Need Now." The company operates 250+ stores throughout the metropolitan New York region. Duane Reade is part of the Walgreens family of companies, the nation's largest drugstore chain with more than 8,000 stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

About Poncho:
Poncho creates personalized weather forecasts tailored to user routines and delivered by email or text message. Subscribers take a brief survey on Poncho – specifying what time they wake up, how they commute to work, whether they have allergies – and immediately begin receiving two witty weather updates every day, once in the morning when they wake up and once in the evening before they leave work. Poncho puts confusing meteorologist terminology into an easy-to-understand message and delivers it before users have to even ask for it, providing a service that is like being pals with your local weatherman.

SOURCE Duane Reade