There's a 24x7 Walgreen's Near You? Well...

A couple of days ago, on my drive back home -- I listened to Walgreen's radio spot.

"There is a 24 hour Walgreens near your home. If the one closed to your home is not 24 hour, the next one is". I thought to myself, "Really, Hmmm. I haven't seen one".

So, I did some research. I used the Store Locator function on Walgreen's website. I was right. There wasn't a Walgreens near my home. Nevermind 24 hour. Actually, there wasn't a Walgreens within a 25 mile radius.

More research. As of March 31, 2006 -- Walgreens had 5,193 stores in 45 states. That's quite some coverage. Just that they didn't have stores in my area. Indeed, they intend to operate more than 7000 stores in the year 2010. I am hopeful the expansion plan includes where I live.

Be that as it may, could a radio spot: "Walgreens is coming to your area!" have been a better choice, for now? Even then, wouldn't Walgreen's ad dollars have been better spent in areas where they have stores? How much would the spot I listened to have costed?

In Walgreen's defense (more specifically in the defense of the radio operator), there is probably no way to air specific advertisements based on location. That's why it is called "radio broadcasting". The fact is: in its current state, unless you are universally marketable and universally available, radio advertising can sometimes prove inefficient from an advertiser's viewpoint.

Well, there is hope. In January 2006, Google acquired dMarc Broadcasting Inc.

I can see the connection and the potential possibilities.