Guild’s Innovative and Targeted Digital Consumer Advertising Campaign

The Pharmacy’s Guild’s highly effective national consumer advertising campaign which was launched in 2014 will enter a new phase in mid-June with the launch of the second chapter of the Ask Your Pharmacist campaign.

The campaign is designed to strengthen community pharmacy’s position among consumers as a trusted source of health service and advice.

The iconic Gold Cross brand features in the campaign as a central component to generate and reinforce that trust following research showing recognition of the Gold Cross reached 54% during the first chapter of the campaign.

The creative approach of Chapter 1 centred on an animation of a community pharmacy run by a husband-and-wife team (Eugene and Petunia) providing a range of health services in the town of ‘Whatchoocan-Sea’.

Chapter 1 included television and digital advertising, as well as in-store material featuring the call to action of ‘Discover More. Ask Your Pharmacist’.

Post-campaign research showed 75% of customers who used a pharmacy between two and six times a year, were more likely to consider using a pharmacy for advice/treatment after seeing the TV ad.

The target audience for Chapter 1 was women aged between 24 and 45 and building on this, Chapter 2’s target audience has been expanded to include women aged up to 55 which includes women ‘caring up’ for parents and ‘caring down’ for children.

The campaign’s objective is to encourage more customers (especially women aged 24-55) to visit their local pharmacy for advice and services.

In Chapter 2, the campaign will be digital-focussed to maximise and intensify the targeting of the key audience. The campaign will include digital ads, display ads in relevant online publications, mobile targeting and search engine maximisation.

With this speci¬fic targeting, the ad will not be seen in mainstream media, but will be seen in catch-up tv and women in this age group will see the ad online and be more likely to visit their community pharmacy for advice/treatment as a result of seeing the ad.

The campaign will also include in-store material (staff badges, prescription backs and fridge magnets).

The campaign website features ‘find a pharmacy’ and video presentations from real pharmacists on featured healthcare services.

The animated ads will highlight health care services provided by community pharmacy, specifically baby care and asthma care (caring down for children) and medications management and diabetes care (caring up for parents).

Key messages of the campaign are:

• Looking after the health of your loved ones can be a challenge
• Your community pharmacist is someone qualified to help
• Look for the Gold Cross on your pharmacy’s door
• Whether it’s baby care, asthma, diabetes or managing your medicines
• Your community pharmacist can help

The call-to-action has been strengthened for Chapter 2 asking the target audience to ‘Think Pharmacy First. Ask Your Pharmacist’.

All ads push the audience to the askyourpharmacist.com.au campaign website and all visitors to the website are encouraged to go to the ‘find a pharmacy’ location.

Underpinning the campaign will be the key messages that the health of our loved ones can be a challenge but your community pharmacist is someone qualified to help. Consumers are urged to look for the Gold Cross on their pharmacy’s door and to be confident that wether it’s baby care, asthma, diabetes or managing your medicines, their community pharmacist can help.

The campaign is proven to increase positive regard for community pharmacy as a source of featured health advice and services amongst target audiences.

The Ask Your Pharmacist campaign is a great opportunity to unite community pharmacies behind a single and engaging brand that promotes the role as trusted health service providers.

For more information or to register your pharmacy’s interest in receiving a complimentary pack of in-store material, visit guild.org.au/askyourpharmacist or email askyourpharmacist@guild.org.au