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Campaign Spotlight: Rite Aid Offers Extra Goodies to Customers 65 and Up

July 29, 2013 by

Introduced in 2010 to combat competition from other pharmacy chains and big-box retailers like Walmart, wellness+ provides participants 24/7 access to a pharmacist, discounts on merchandise and other benefits. The new “wellness65+” program — which Rite Aid announced in mid-June and began promoting June 30 through an advertising campaign by MARC USA of Pittsburgh — offers the same benefits, as well as a private consultation with a pharmacist and special discounts the first Wednesday of each month. Both programs have different membership tiers; members who purchase more become eligible for greater discounts and additional wellness benefits like a gym membership. There is no charge to become a member of either program.

Rite Aid operates more than 4,600 stores in 31 states, primarily on the east and west coasts, and in the District of Columbia.

Ken Martindale, president and chief operating officer of Rite Aid, said “attracting new senior customers represents a crucial growth opportunity for Rite Aid because seniors tend to be our best pharmacy patients.” Increasing the size of its senior patient base also lets Rite Aid provide services like immunization and medication therapy management “to a segment of the population that stands to benefit the most from the positive health outcomes these services provide,” Mr. Martindale added.

Tony Bucci, chairman of MARC USA, said television advertising for wellness65+ will focus on 21 major urban markets where Rite Aid would have “the greatest opportunity to enroll new seniors.” These markets range, in the eastern United States, from Boston, Hartford and New York to Washington, Louisville and Atlanta, and include western cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento and Portland, Ore. Based on the theme “How did I get here,” spots are running primarily on news programs and shows like “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy.”

One TV spot depicts a man in a bathing suit, standing by the edge of a pool, getting ready to dive in. The voice-over says, “Every now and then you gotta ask yourself, ‘How did I get here?’” The spot then shows the man having his blood pressure monitored by a Rite Aid pharmacist, and flashes the wellness65+ card, which the voiceover says helps members “feel and live your best.” As the spot concludes, the man dives into the pool and swims away; this is followed by the Rite Aid logo and tagline, “With us, it’s personal.”

“When you see the commercial, the people aren’t hip,” Mr. Bucci said. “They’re very personal, honest, sincere and caring. The idea is that people over 65 are fully enjoying life.”

Radio spots 60 seconds in length will run on news, talk, easy listening, jazz, classical and gospel radio stations in the same 21 markets where the TV ads run. In one radio spot, the announcer says, “You’ve had 60-some-odd years to prepare for this moment. Sixty-some-odd years that added up to a squishy, squashy backyard squirt gun battle. And it’s here that the question hits you. How did I get here? Is it just living in moderation? Or saving with gusto? Like getting 20 percent off your Rite Aid purchases every first Wednesday of the month with Rite Aid’s new wellness65+.” The spot concludes with the announcer calling the program “one more way Rite Aid is helping you stay here, now that you’ve actually gotten here. Here, soaking wet and slinking through your own rosebushes.”

A full-page ad running in AARP The Magazine depicts an older woman on an amusement park ride with a child. The headline says, “Here’s to suddenly remembering where laugh lines come from. Feeling and living your best. Rite Aid is committed to helping you realize it, with exclusive, new benefits for seniors.”

Last month Rite Aid also began a tour, which will run through March 2014, featuring a van decorated with wellness65+ and Rite Aid logos and photos of program participants. The van will visit more than 30 cities across the country. In each city, Rite Aid will partner with local organizations to host community wellness events for seniors and their families, like free health screenings, pharmacist consultations and seminars with local experts on subjects like fitness.

John Learish, senior vice president of marketing for Rite Aid, declined to quantify how much the company will spend to promote wellness65+. However, he said Rite Aid’s advertising expenditures in the second half of its current fiscal year would be “comparable” to what was spent in the same period in its last fiscal year, which ended March 2, 2013.

According to Kantar Media, Rite Aid spent a low of $40.1 million on advertising in calendar year 2009 and a high of $50.8 million in calendar year 2010. Its calendar year 2012 spending on all media was $13.5 million in the first quarter; $6.5 million in the second quarter; $10.3 million in the third quarter; and $17.4 million in the fourth quarter. Kantar Media also said the company spent $9.4 million on advertising in the first quarter of calendar year 2013.

According to Mr. Learish, wellness+ had more than 25 million active members — who had used their card at least twice in the previous six months–as of the end of the first quarter of Rite Aid’s current fiscal year. He also said program members generated 77 per cent of non-prescription sales and 70 percent of prescriptions filled in the first quarter of Rite Aid’s current fiscal year, both up over the same period last year; he declined to quantify these increases.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/29/business/media/rite-aid-offers-extra-goodies-to-customers-65-and-up.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Media Business Tagged With: , ,

The Haggler: Consumer Annoyances, and Ways to Stop Them

December 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

FULL DISCLOSURE AT HOTELS Every hotel should be required to include a section on its Web site called “The Catch.” It is a place to describe the single most annoying thing about the hotel that is not disclosed anywhere else.

Here’s an example: The Haggler once stayed at a resortlike hotel of one-story suites, in a rural town near Albuquerque. A male peacock roamed the grounds. If you think this sounds like an appealing mix of zoology and hospitality, you have never been near a male peacock, which at random intervals produces a screeching honk — the sort you’d get from taking a chain saw to a Buick. At 30 yards, the noise is startling. But at a few feet away — and the bird was often that close, because it had the run of the place and didn’t seem to sleep — it’s nature’s own air-raid siren.

More recently, the Haggler stayed at a Miami Beach hotel that had no parking lot. The valet service was outsourced, the receptionist explained, and could deliver your vehicle in roughly 15 minutes. That isn’t exactly prompt, but if you build some lead time into your calculations, it’ll do. Except that, one night, it took the valet 45 minutes.

“Traffic,” the valet explained.

Wandering peacocks, pokey valets — guests deserve a heads-up about such irritations before booking. And a heads-up they will get, from “The Catch.”

MUSIC AT DRUGSTORE CHAINS Who is compiling playlists for drugstores? And can somebody find them other jobs? Honestly, the music encountered at Rite Aid, Duane Reade and CVS is so soul-wiltingly awful that the Haggler is wondering if it’s a tactic to hurry customers out the door — as if executives were afraid that we’d loiter if they played something decent. Do they really think we’d just stand there, amid the flashbulb white that for some reason is the default brightness in this retail setting, and stare at the trash bag offerings and Listerine varieties, clogging up the aisles and maybe dancing?

To make it all the more unpleasant, there are those tacky between-song pitches for products.

During a recent visit to a Duane Reade, the Haggler heard “Escape” by Enrique Iglesias, followed by this urgent announcement: “Attention, Duane Reade shoppers: Join the revolution. Try imPress Press-On Manicure by Broadway Nails.”

What should be played instead? It’s a challenge, because quality standards are elusive when it comes to music. But we can stipulate this: Anything played in a drugstore in the last 10 years is off limits.

And listen up, CVS: easy on the Supertramp.

CREDIT CARD MAIL Credit card companies should be barred from using the phrase “Important Account Information” on mailings — unless, of course, the mailing actually contains important account information. Usually, it does not. Usually, it’s a come-on luring consumers into ever-deeper levels of debt.

But not always. Every once in a while, card companies send information that you actually ought to read — terms-of-service changes, for instance. Either banks are hoping that you’ll open all your “Important Account Information” mail and sign up for something or they’re hoping that you ignore it entirely and miss out on genuine news.

Let’s make this simple: If a credit card company is offering any new product — even if it merely “enhances” a card you’re already using — the envelope must be stamped with the words “Irrelevant Account Information.” Or “Feel Free to Toss This.” Or, better yet: “You Know How So Many Americans Are Buried Under Bills and Pay Staggering Sums in Interest and Penalties? Well, We’d Like You to Join Them. See Inside.”

SHUSHING MESSAGES AT CINEMAS We need to rethink the messages at movie theaters beseeching silence during films. Far too often, these use levity to make their point. Hey, it’s the local morning-zoo D.J.’s, hamming it up as they urge you not to be “that guy” — the person prattling on when the lights go down. Or it’s a cartoon. Or it’s a sign in a goofy font, with calliope music.

The problem with using humor in the shush message is that it undermines the gravity of the blabbing issue in movie theaters. Which is a national crisis, frankly. It also makes the message a part of the aural wallpaper of previews and advertisements, giving license to yammer during the shush message itself. Yes, it happens. The Haggler witnessed this phenomenon once and will go to his grave with the horrific memory of two people nattering over a plea for quiet.

So humor and the shush message should never be combined. Instead, the message should be stern and repetitive, and delivered by a respected authority figure. Bill Clinton, perhaps. Imagine him staring directly into the camera and saying: “My fellow Americans. I’m here to ask you to shut up. Seriously.” Lengthy pause, during which Mr. Clinton stares at the camera, his face ever so slightly tinged with disappointment. “Everyone. Please shut up.” More silence. “This is not a joke. You’re at a movie theater. Other people are trying to listen. Would it kill you to stop talking? Probably not. Let’s see.” Pause. “Shut up.”

Take heed, movie theater chains. This approach will increase your attendance and your profits. No need to share those profits with the Haggler, though. The chastened, muted audiences at the theater will be thanks enough.

E-mail: haggler@nytimes.com. Keep it brief and family-friendly, include your hometown and go easy on the caps-lock key. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/your-money/consumer-annoyances-and-ways-to-stop-them.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: , ,

Looking Ahead: Economic Reports for the Week Ahead

March 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment

ECONOMIC REPORTS Data will include personal income and spending for February (Monday); the Standard Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index (Tuesday); initial jobless claims (Thursday); and the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index (Friday).

CORPORATE EARNINGS Companies reporting earnings will include Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, KB Home and Rite Aid (Monday); Lennar and Sealy (Tuesday); Family Dollar (Wednesday); and Carmax and Krispy Kreme (Thursday).

IN WASHINGTON On Wednesday, the Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, left, will testify before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee about the president’s budget proposal, the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on tax incentives, and the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on policies to create jobs.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=091e16351c60fc50a44b69d7102dd6b9

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: , ,