Walgreens to Roll Out In-Store Digital Ad Screens in 1,200 Locations With Looma

The rollout is part of Walgreens' effort to make digital in-store advertising a larger share of its retail media business. Looma places its screens directly alongside the products they support, which Walgreens said produces content meant to educate shoppers rather than interrupt them.

Walgreens also said it chose Looma partly because the format is measured with full-funnel metrics instead of relying only on how often an ad played. Looma operates a network of more than 7,000 screens across 10 retail banners, reaching 13 million unique shoppers a month at chains including Kroger, H-E-B, Harris Teeter and BJ's Wholesale.

For brands already working with Looma, the tie-up widens the reach of existing campaigns by extending them into Walgreens locations. The pharmacy chain framed the screens as an addition to its existing in-store media offering.

The move follows Walgreens' roughly $200 million dispute with startup Cooler Screens. That company began installing refrigerator doors with digital screens in place of glass in Walgreens stores in 2018, displaying virtual rows of the products supposedly inside along with advertising.

As reported last year, the fridge panels flickered, crashed, displayed the wrong products and in some cases caught fire. Unlike those displays, the Looma screens sit beside products rather than covering them from view.