News Briefs

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) awarded its Ivan D. Combe Lifetime Achievement Award to industry veteran Jim Mackey on March 20 at its annual Self-Care Leadership Summit in Orlando, Florida.

Each year, the award recognizes the outstanding contributions of one individual who has created a lasting impact on the U.S. consumer healthcare industry and directly improved self-care for consumers. It is named after Ivan Combe, an industry pioneer who served on CHPA’s board of directors from 1958 until 2000. The honoree is chosen based on three core attributes:

1. Professional excellence and a passion for improving the lives of healthcare consumers.
2. Outstanding leadership and involvement in industry activities.
3. A commitment to giving back to the community.  

Mackey started his career as a sales merchandiser for a pharmaceutical manufacturer formerly known as Sterling Drug before joining Whitehall Labs, a division of American Home Products, where he was named vice president of sales at the age of 28. In that role, Mackey helped launch one of the most successful Rx-to-OTC switches in U.S. history with the launch of Advil in 1984.

Mackey then spent nearly two decades at Schering-Plough, where he helped bring Claritin and MiraLAX to the OTC market. Following the acquisition of Schering-Plough by Merck in 2009, he capped off his corporate career by helping to negotiate the acquisition of Merck Consumer by Bayer in 2014.

Additionally, CHPA president and CEO Scott Melville, said in a media release, “[Mackey’s] service on CHPA’s board of directors, including as our chairman from 2013 to 2014, led to progress on key industry initiatives, including relaunching CHPA’s educational foundation and beginning the effort to modernize the OTC monograph system.”

Melville added that Mackey’s greatest mark on the industry was perhaps “his leadership in organizing an industry response to the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, which placed OTC pseudoephedrine (PSE) behind the counter and led states to consider making PSE a prescription product.”

Mackey has also helped his community as a mentor, volunteer at nonprofit organizations, and as an advisor and board member to Ways 2 Wellness, a publishing venture focused on improving the lives of seniors, their communities and care givers.

View a list of past Ivan D. Combe Lifetime Achievement Award winners here.

7-Eleven has launched a proprietary network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and a dedicated mobile app to provide shoppers a fast-charging experience at select stores in the U.S. — and coming soon to Canada.

The network, dubbed 7Charge, is already available to EV drivers at several 7-Eleven locations in Florida, Texas, Colorado and California.

7Charge sites allow customers to charge any EV make and model compatible with common CHAdeMO or Combined Charging System (CCS) plug types (or an appropriate adapter). The 7Charge app aims to provide an extra level of convenience and coordination to customers looking for a seamless charging and payment experience. The app can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play, or by visiting 7-eleven.com/7charge.

"For over 95 years, 7-Eleven has innovated to meet our customers' needs — delivering convenience where, when and how they want it," Joe DePinto, president and CEO at 7-Eleven, said in a media release. "Now, we are innovating once again to meet our customers' where they are by expanding our business to provide EV drivers convenience of the future...today."

By expanding the 7Charge network, while continuing to utilize third-party charging options, 7-Eleven says it hopes its network will match consumer demand and make EV charging available to neighborhoods that have mostly lacked access, per the release.

Once the network's expansion is complete, 7-Eleven’s charging stations will reach across its family of brands, including Speedway and Stripes stores.

The Home Depot has named William "Billy" Bastek executive vice president of merchandising, effective immediately.

Bastek is a 33-year veteran of Home Depot, having served in several leadership positions across the merchandising organization. Most recently, he was senior vice president of hardlines, where he was responsible for merchandising and marketing strategies for the hardware and garden departments. Prior to that role, he was merchandising vice president of hardware and tools, where he oversaw the growth and transformation of the power tools and automotive departments in stores and online.

Under Bastek's leadership, the merchandising team has led the retailer’s modernization efforts in the power tools and outdoor power categories, driving a shift from corded or gas-powered to battery-powered equipment. He and the team also drove Home Depot's growth in the Halloween and holiday categories both online and in stores.

Bastek began his career in 1989 at HD Supply, formerly known as Maintenance Warehouse, which was originally acquired by Home Depot in 1997. He has held various roles, including global product merchant, senior merchant, divisional merchandise manager and MVP for building materials.

Bastek replaces Jeff Kinnaird, who recently left the home improvement retailer.

"[Kinnaird] has made significant contributions to The Home Depot since starting in the lumber aisle nearly 27 years ago and progressing through every role in our stores," Ted Decker, chair, president and CEO of Home Depot, said in a media release. "His leadership of our Canadian division and more recently of our merchandising, marketing and online businesses is greatly appreciated.”

BJ's Wholesale Club is partnering with Simbe Robotics to roll out the tech company’s Tally robots across BJ’s 237-club footprint.

Tally will autonomously roam club aisles multiple times per day, leveraging computer vision technology and artificial intelligence to collect accurate shelf data that ensures products are in-stock, shelved appropriately and accurately priced.

Real-time data provided by Tally should allow BJ’s associates to refocus their time toward other tasks and helping shoppers. The data offers greater visibility into inventory tracking and enables faster restocking. It can be virtually reviewed to ensure optimal club conditions and accurate merchandising execution, according to a media release from the retailer.

“By deploying Tally in all of our club locations, we will gain unprecedented insights which will leverage real-time data, enabling us to continuously improve our operation and ensure that we’re offering the best possible experience to both our team members and members,” Jeff Desroches, executive vice president, chief operations officer, BJ’s, said in the release.

“Our team has partnered with BJ’s to refine our computer vision technology to accommodate the unique layout and product assortment in a warehouse club,” Brad Bogolea, CEO, Simbe, added.

Meyers, a printing company that designs and manufactures packaging, labels and retail displays, has received the 2022 New Jersey Packaging Executives Club (NJPEC) “Package of the Year” award in the Sustainability Health & Beauty category. The Minneapolis-based solutions provider was recognized for packaging it created for each of the four fragrances in Ulta Beauty’s private-label Eau de Toilette (EDT) purse sprays collection.

The NJPEC annual awards program recognizes industry excellence that meets the criteria of design excellence, shelf impact, uniqueness, cost effectiveness and graphic presentation. 

Meyers’ Ulta packaging created leveraged responsibly sourced materials with unique production methods, creating an eye-catching shelf presence at a cost-effective price, according to a media release. The company created packaging for all four fragrances in the collection: sugared vanilla, island breeze, coconut cream and black salt vanilla.

Michael Dillon, chief revenue officer at Meyers, said in the release that its fragrance packaging for Ulta is unlike anything they’ve produced before.

“We created a pearlescent packaging stock using specialized coatings, instead of purchasing already pearlescent paper,” he said. “This led to a nearly 10-times savings in cost that was beautiful and perfectly complemented the brand’s well-priced beauty products.”

“I’ve worked with Meyers since 1988, taking them to every company I’ve worked with,” Jael Dalessandro, senior operations and compliance officer at Ulta, added. “In terms of packaging, Meyers always comes up with new technologies and new ways we can be more recyclable. That innovation and their commitment to quality and customer service is so impactful for us as a company and really helps us be an industry leader when it comes to sustainability, and makes our products stand out from a standpoint of beautiful aesthetics.”

The purse sprays packaging was custom designed to hold the small item upright while being stable on the shelf. Leveraging Meyers’ sustainability focus, the package was created using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified materials at a sustainable green printing partnership-certified facility. One hundred percent of the electricity used to manufacture the packages was carbon-free and renewable.

The printing of the package was done on a digital-flexo-hybrid press that includes both traditional flexographic print and digital print. Meyers says this manufacturing process for folding carton packages is “exceptionally rare” and strikes a balance between managing costs and quality.

Jacksonville, Florida-based marketing agency Acosta has launched Acosta Group, a unified brand of the company’s omnichannel retail, marketing and foodservice agencies, to provide clients better access to its full suite of solutions.

"We are operating in a new era of commerce that demands a diverse yet cohesive set of solutions that touch the consumer everywhere they buy," Brian Wynne, CEO of Acosta Group, said in a media release. "Across our agencies, we are investing in the expansion of our strategic capabilities and simplifying access to our suite of services. The promise of Acosta Group is to deliver frictionless, modern solutions that accelerate sales, share and profit growth for our partners, now and in the future."

More than 2,500 brands, retailers and foodservice providers — ranging from CPG to consumer electronics, natural and specialty, fresh foods, health and beauty care, convenience, mass and club — use Acosta Group agencies to connect consumers with their products across the path to purchase.

The collective unites Acosta’s end-to-end solutions, including headquarters sales services, omnichannel retail solutions, in-store selling and training, integrated marketing, foodservice sales enablement and culinary solutions as well as advanced data and insights from proprietary first-party data, research and analytics.

The Acosta Group pillar agencies comprise:

• Acosta: Omnichannel retail solutions and business intelligence, including headquarter sales, digital commerce, back-office solutions, merchandising, revenue growth management, space and category management.
• Core Foodservice: Progressive foodservice sales enablement and culinary solutions that enable brands to sell to today's influential foodservice operators.
• Mosaic: Integrated marketing capabilities, from in-store sales and training and experiential to brand building and national media campaigns.
• Premium: Sales and training, merchandising, and field technology to identify insights, grow sales and help brands and retailers execute.
• ActionLink: Specialized merchandising and in-store selling solutions.

"With Acosta Group, we are creating a platform that enables easy access to all of our agencies and helps brands and retailers achieve their full potential, regardless of their size or where they are in their lifecycle,” said Wynne.