Marketing Red Nose Day USA

Today is Red Nose Day in America, a day of fundraising to support children's charities and combat poverty.

NBC is broadcasting a telethon tonight in support of Red Nose Day, along with special programming featuring celebrities who are involved with the charity efforts. This high-profile media attention is a big part of the fundraising effort.

If you don't already have your Red Nose merchandise, hop on over to the local Walgreens and buy a nose or another item where the purchase supports the charities. Walgreens is the official retail partner and its stores are doing their part with signage, enthusiastic employees, etc.

Charity partners are also marketing Red Nose Day. Save the Children, for instance, has its website and social media sites promoting the event and urging donations.

And Red Nose Day USA is extremely active all over social media. Its Twitter account has 60,000 followers and is posting videos, images, and other content to engage and energize people. Go ahead, put on your red nose and get funny for money (to support serious causes).

Marketing May 26 as Red Nose Day

For the second consecutive year, Red Nose Day jumps the pond and transplants itself in America to raise money for children's charities. The telethon will air on May 26th.

Walgreens is the official retail partner, selling plastic red noses for $1 and other red merchandise to add a smile and raise money (all profits to charity). NBC is the official network sponsor of the two-hour telethon. M&Ms returns as a sponsor, as well. In 2015, it won a Shorty Award for its Red Nose Day promotions.

In 2015, Red Nose Day USA collected $23 million for children's charities. Can it break that record and raise more?

The US Red Nose Day Facebook page has 73k likes and the Twitter account has 49k followers. The Instagram account has 13k followers and fun photos of celebrities wearing red noses.

New social media content is being posted almost every day leading up to the telethon. Posting with the hashtag #RedNoseDay on social media helps spread the word and build momentum. I just tweeted with the hashtag, noting that I've purchased red noses for friends and family. Looking forward to serious fun for a serious cause.

Red Nose Day: A Good Laugh for a Good Cause

Red Nose Day (from Comic Relief) has been raising money in the U.K. for nearly 30 years. Now this "get funny for money" fundraiser, beloved by U.K. consumers and a major source of charitable donations for fighting poverty and social injustice, is coming to the U.S. for the first time.

It will be nationally broadcast on May 21st as a telethon by NBC, featuring videos from Funny or Die and appearances by a bevy of celebrities. Proceeds will benefit these charities, among others: Boys & Girls Clubs, Feeding America, the Global Fund, Save the Children, and United Way.

Red Nose Day is a perfect fit with social media marketing. The U.S. version is just getting going, with fewer than 3,000 Facebook likes as of today, compared with nearly 700,000 for the UK Red Nose Day Facebook page. The Red Nose Day US Twitter site has nearly 1,000 followers as of today.

Walgreens is the exclusive U.S. retailer of red noses for Red Nose Day, on sale for only $1 each. When I bought my red noses today, I noticed that all Walgreens sales personnel were wearing the official Red Nose t-shirt and asking every customer to donate or participate.

Watch Facebook and Twitter for #RedNose hashtags in the coming weeks!

**UPDATE: The first U.S. Red Nose telethon raised $10 million by the half-way point in the evening. When the telethon ended, more than $21 million had been pledged or received. Well done!

CVS Drops Tobacco: A Lesson in Positioning

The classic definition of positioning is to create, via marketing, a competitively distinctive position for your brand or product in the mind of the target market. This concept is relatively new to marketing, having been introduced by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their 1980 book, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.

CVS's unexpected announcement that the drug retailer will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products by October is a classic example of positioning at work in the marketplace.

Take a look at CVS's competitive situation. It's battling two other major US chains, Walgreens and Rite-Aid. During the past year, Walgreens has used the slogan "At the corner of Happy and Healthy" in its advertising, website and social media. Rite-Aid's marketing focuses on its Wellness+ rewards program. In other words, both drug chains want consumers to associate them with health and wellness.

Now, with one announcement, CVS has positioned itself as the drug chain that is so concerned about consumer health that it is giving up the sale of tobacco products. CVS won't be sacrificing a huge amount of revenue (about $2 billion out of $123 billion or so), and tobacco is certainly not a growth product category.

Without jeopardizing a lot of money, CVS is generating a ton of free media coverage and goodwill for its principled stand. It already has 1.3 million Facebook likes, and I know the company's decision has been shared and tweeted many, many times since it was announced. (Some consumers are angry, but most appear to be applauding CVS.) One of its Twitter accounts has been posting messages thanking such groups as the American Diabetes Association for their public support.

Now when you think of CVS, what comes to mind? If your first thought is that the retailer has dumped tobacco, CVS has succeeded in positioning itself in a way that is meaningful, distinctive, and memorable. Giving up tobacco is a good thing for health and a good thing for positioning, too. Walgreens and Rite-Aid might even have to follow suit. Stay tuned.

Changes in Store for In-Store Health Clinics?

Back in 2006, in-store health clinics were in their infancy. The idea of dropping by the local supermarket or discount store to have a nurse, physician's assistant, or doctor look at a sore throat was just getting established, but drug stores and chain retailers had ambitious plans. 

At the time, CVS had 70 MinuteClinics in stores coast to coast, and it bought MinuteClinic to drive rapid expansion. Walmart planned to open 2,000 clinics within a few years. Target had plans for multiple clinics, and other regional and national retailers were jumping on the clinic bandwagon. Their goal: broadening services by offering convenient access to health-care providers for common ailments like scrapes or sore throats, with the ability to fill prescriptions on-site if needed, all at a reasonable cost.

Of course, shoppers might just pick up a few other items before or after being seen at the in-store clinic, adding to the overall transaction size and profit potential. Especially in areas with limited access to everyday health care or few doctors, in-store clinics can fill the void.

Fast-forward to 2013: Walmart has fewer than 150 health clinics--far fewer than it projected. Overall, retailers are still refining their marketing of in-store health clinics. Walgreens, for example, is expanding its clinics on a market-by-market basis. A few years ago, CVS began shutting some Minute Clinics when seasonal demand was low, referring customers to nearby locations instead. As demand increases, it reopens individual locations to meet local needs.

Yet some surveys show that consumers remain interested in visiting clinics in stores and offices, seeking both convenience and affordability. In fact, new health-care legislation is likely to accelerate demand for in-store health clinics in the coming years

Meanwhile, retailers have been using the flu shot as a competitive tool, emphasizing flexible hours and availability. In the 2012-3 season, Rite-Aid offered a booklet of discount coupons worth $100 and CVS offered a 20% deal on all store purchases made during the flu shot visit. Walgreens has steadily promoted flu shots and is one of the country's largest providers of flu vaccinations, despite the recent vaccine shortage due to high demand. Walmart, Costco, Stop & Shop, and other retailers have featured flu shot signage and events to heighten awareness and draw customers in.

What other changes are in store for in-store health clinics?