“Twight” (Twitter Fight) Between $ESRX and $WAG

This is either a massive validation of the perceived value of Twitter or a crazy distraction, but either way, it’s interesting to those of us who study the industry and/or study marketing and communications. 

As part of the ongoing dispute between Walgreens and Express Scripts, Twitter has become one of the latest tools.  (see June post and September post)  In an effort to sway public opinion and thereby pressure Express Scripts and its clients, Walgreens turned to bloggers and Twitter to push their messaging…but these were in some case paid comments which was surprising.  They already have strong messaging in their IChooseWalgreens website and whitepapers on the Value of Walgreens.  I also thought they were demonstrating some success in converting people to their discount program which was part of their overall growth strategy shared at their shareholders meeting. 

After Walgreens (with almost 84,000 followers) created a promoted hashtag of #ILoveWalgreens, Express Scripts (with 1,645 followers) countered back with several Tweets about the dispute (see below).  I guess the question is whether with millions affected and decisions made by the businesses and not consumers…does this forum matter?  But, journalists and analysts follow them so it’s important to keep the messaging up.  (Other articles on this are here, here, and here.)

Conveniently, I found this infographic on how Twitter is changing healthcare.  At the same time, this is an interesting fight because it’s a blend of B2C and B2B crossing paths.  More to come since I’m sure this fight is long from over.