Alcon Eyes Retail with One-Stop Display

Fort Worth, Texas — Novartis’ Alcon eye-care division has traditionally focused on sales through eye doctors. It is now casting a keen eye on retail with an Eye Solution retail display program.“The doctor is the No. 1 purchase driver in the category,” says Shawn Millerick, director of shopper marketing and category insights for Alcon. “But we need to talk to that shopper and patient after they leave that office as they go down that path to purchase so we’re there for them every step of the way as they make their decision to buy a product.”Millerick says the Eye Solution program came about after path-to-purchase research revealed that eye-care shoppers are overwhelmed by choice in the category and have low engagement. “The Eye Solution was really born as an opportunity to do one thing: make it easy for shoppers to find the best care for their eyes, and in so doing, help them identify the best Alcon products to meet their needs,” Millerick says.The Alcon in-store destination uses “eyecon” logos that identify the various eye-care needs consumers have – contact lens care, dry eye, allergy relief, eye vitamins and lid care – next to the Alcon products that meet them. The supporting materials include floorstands, power wing displays and PDQ-driven endcaps. Custom displays have been created for key retailers (that Millerick declines to name) and a menu of floor displays that are available to a broader array of retailers across the food, drug and mass channels. Rite Aid, Walgreens and Walmart are among the chains with displays. According to Millerick, the effort has doubled the number of displays Alcon has at retail.Alcon is reaching consumers out-of-store through co-op print ads with select retailers as well as retailer-specific digital banners that link to a promotional site (Theeyesolution.com) that offers product coupons. The company has also launched an “Eye Saw Good” marketing campaign that partners with Kids Vision for Life, a nonprofit that provides no-cost vision services to children in need. “We felt [Kids Vision was] a great example of a charity that was very relevant to eye health, and we want the Eye Solution to really be about helping people to engage in their eyes and actively champion active eye care for the shopper,” Millerick says.The cause effort has a dedicated website (Eyesawgood.com) and is supported with a @theeyesolution Twitter feed. Additionally, for every photo consumers share on Twitter or Instagram using the #eyesawgood hashtag, Alcon will donate $1 to Kids Vision for Life (up to $50,000).Alcon enlisted actress Jenny Garth as spokesperson. She completed a media day in New York that included a stop on Fox Channel’s “Fox & Friends.” Another media day was planned for later in the year. “We think she’s a great ambassador for our brand and we’re looking for her to help us engage more people,” Millerick says. “We could potentially reach more than 100 million impressions from a media standpoint with her as our spokesperson.”The “Eye Saw Good” campaign will run through 2013, with the Eye Solution continuing through 2014.Alcon will measure the Eye Solution program through incremental sales for the category and for Alcon retailers. “Going forward, we’ll be tracking year-on-year attitudes and viewpoints toward the category,” Millerick says. “Will we be able to make a difference in terms of how people view it, how they shop it, and how they feel about the shopping experience?”For the campaign, Alcon worked with marketing agency Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide, Chicago; PR firm Burson-Marsteller, New York; Nielsen, New York (for metrics management); RockTenn Merchandising Displays, Norcross, Ga. (for merchandising displays); Tribal, New York, and Harte-Hanks, San Antonio (for digital); Starcom, Chicago (for media); and Kantar Retail, Boston (for path-to-purchase research).

Alcon Eyes Retail with One-Stop Display

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