Rexall Pharmacy tv ads

The commercial goes like this, a chicken has some bandages on it and another time a blender is mixing while being given its medicine. The announcer asks in a monotone voice do you buy healthcare products at the same place you buy groceries/appliances and finishes off with “we focus on healthcare.” How do they exactly do that?

So here are the problems with this campaign. They first concede defeat by telling us the problem they are having with people buying products at grocery stores and Walmarts instead of the dedicated pharmacy. They are trying to convince people that there is something wrong with that or it’s not right. Go and change the normal habit of millions of people by telling them it’s wrong, absurd. The retailer who values people’s time and provides convenience will be rewarded greatly. Have these people looked at the price of gasoline. Why would you want to drive to a pharmacy after going grocery shopping to waste gas and time. The ad gives no compelling reason why people should come to the pharmacy. Secondly in my opinion they shot themselves in the foot with this campaign by ruling out the future possibility of offering food products. At the end of the commercial they display a bunch of brand names this company operates under from IDA, Pharma Plus, etc., very confusing. When I started to write this I saw the commercial again and had it wrong about what name they focused on, I didn’t remember the names.

My strategy would be as follows, focus on the “Plus” and operate under the Pharma Plus name. The plus could be food products which are good for your health (appear to be healthier). At one time pharmacies had soda fountains for the medicinal properties. One Canadian drug store recently had signs up stating it now sold milk. I would be selling soy milk and organic milk.. More yogurts and sugar-free beverages. Frozen dinners which are low in fat ,salt and calories, frozen pizza with whole wheat crusts. With diabetes a big problem I would be selling gluten free products and capitalize on this area. I wonder if they sell pomegranate juice, I doubt it. There are so many good products out there for your health, use this to draw people. If they really focused on healthcare they would be going in this direction since their present one is obviously failing, they already told us.

Was the money spent on this campaign useful? They would have better luck throwing it out the window and hope someone in need would run across it and possibly benefit. This campaign is a complete waste of money. If this company was a stock I would give it a “junk bond” rating.