Retailers Turn Red for Heart Month

The Red Dress logo was back in style this month, as brands and retailers supported the American Heart Association's annual movement to recognize February as American Heart Month. The AHA continued to champion its "Go Red for Women" movement, which rallies women to prevent and fight heart disease, by distributing educational literature and staging promotional activity. Meanwhile, the U.S. government's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLB) paired with various retail players to promote "The Heart Truth," its seven-year-old campaign to raise awareness for heart disease prevention among women. As in 2008 (see "Retailers Take Women to Heart" in Related Articles), the cause initiatives received heavy support from retailers and packaged goods manufacturers through a variety of fundraising activity and incentive offers. Both programs heavily employed the Red Dress logo, an iconic symbol created by the NHLB for "The Heart Truth" and licensed by the AMA for "Go Red" and other campaigns related to heart health.Campbell Soup Co. supported both programs through its annual "adDress Your Heart" campaign, which was introduced with an FSI drop on Feb. 8. (See Related Articles). The manufacturer featured three Red Dress styles created by fashion designer Nicole Miller on a dedicated website, asking consumers to vote online for their favorite dress and donating $1 to "Go Red" for each vote cast (up to $275,000). Campbell's Healthy Request Soups, Prego's Heart Smart and Swanson promised to contribute additional funds from brand-specific proceeds. Meanwhile, Yankee Candle sold a six-SKU collection of red fragrance candles to benefit "Go Red," pledging to donate $1 from each sale to the program. The manufacturer also promised to contribute 10% of proceeds from a special Red Dress Car Jar air freshener to the movement.Other manufacturers supported "Go Red" by pledging to donate proceeds from retail sales of specially marked products. Partners included Chiquita Brands and Fresh Express, Procter & Gamble's Clairol Professional, Blue Diamond Growers' Whole Natural Almonds and Del Monte's StarKist.Among the retailers that supported "Go Red":National program sponsor Macy's hosted a "Wear Red Sale," rewarding 20% off purchases to shoppers who wore red apparel in the store from Feb. 4-8. Stanchion signs also directed shoppers to the retailer's "Go Red" microsite to find health tips, resources, ways to support the cause, and personal stories about heart disease.&nbsp Supervalu touted its official "Go Red" sponsorship in February circulars at various chains. The retailer paired with PepsiCo to offer a "Go Red" reusable shopping bag with purchase of three SKUs from Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Quaker, Tropicana, Aunt Jemima and other brands. Chains in the Albertsons division, which include Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Acme and Shaw's, simultaneously supported "The Heart Truth" by selling Red Dress pins and distributing educational literature, including a "Healthy Heart Handbook for Women." In chain-specific activity, Jewel-Osco pledged to donate 50 cents to the AHA for every bottle of select wines purchased throughout February, while extreme-value chain Save-A-Lot used shelf tags to identify "Heart Health Products" from private-label brands. Some other chains, including Cub Foods and Shaw's, also offered free blood pressure screenings during the month. &nbsp Rite Aid paired with "Go Red" to offer a free "Heart & Soul" T-shirt by mail to shoppers who bought $30 worth of select OTC, medical and grocery items in a single trip from Jan. 25 to March 28. Mail-in rebate forms were included in the chain's February Single Check Rebates catalog. Dedicated endcaps merchandised eligible products, accompanied by headers that proclaimed, "I choose to have a healthy heart." Side panels on the endcaps and power wings further touted the chain's support. The retailer also asked shoppers to purchase paper Red Dresses for $1 at checkout.&nbsp H-E-B asked shoppers to donate $1, $3 or $5 to "Go Red" at checkout, supporting the effort with window posters. The chain also offered a nutritional booklet from Nestle and is promoting "2nd Saturday Screenings" sponsored by Kraft Foods and diabetes care manufacturer Novo Nordisk that include free blood pressure and blood glucose screenings. The in-store events will take place on the second Saturday of March, April and May.&nbsp Winn-Dixie circulars instructed consumers to support "Go Red" by filling out donation vouchers at checkout."The Heart Truth" earned similar attention from retailers and CPG manufacturers, including: Coca-Cola's Diet Coke launched its second-annual campaign for the program, voicing its support on signage and endcap displays at Target, CVS/pharmacy, Supervalu and other top retailers. Promotional materials employed the slogan, "Charming our way to healthier hearts together." Diet Coke also distributed special 24-packs bearing the campaign's Red Dress logo that contained $10 worth of "heart-healthy" coupons. Among account-specific activity, the brand hosted a sweepstakes with Supervalu's Jewel-Osco, awarding a walk-on role in the Feb. 24 "Heart Health Night" performance of the musical Jersey Boys in Chicago.&nbspSnyder's of Hanover developed special product packaging and hosts a sweepstakes awarding a week-long trip to a Pretty City spa location. Entry is online from Jan. 1 to May 30. Dedicated floorstands communicate the sweeps in retailers nationwide.&nbspGeneral Mill's Cheerios featured the Red Dress symbol on product packaging for three SKUs. For every special-edition UPC consumers entered online, the manufacturer pledged to donate $1 (up to $200,000) to non-profit coalition WomenHeart, which aims to provide free cholesterol screenings for women in need.&nbspOther sponsors of "The Heart Truth" include Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol, St. Joseph and Viactiv; Sara Lee; and Henkel's Dial, which produced a limited-edition red Cranberry & AntiOxidant soap.In retailer activity, Safeway chains offered complimentary blood pressure, body mass index and cholesterol screenings during in-store "Love Your Heart" events from Feb. 4-24. Administered at store pharmacies, the screenings were sponsored by Diet Coke, Campbell Soup, Kellogg Co., Fresh Express, Barilla, ConAgra's Healthy Choice and StarKist, and Health Media Venture Inc.'s Health magazine. Stores also distributed booklets containing health content and coupons for "heart-healthy products" from sponsors; the booklets were placed on stanchions near store pharmacies and on dedicated "Love Your Heart" endcaps in grocery aisles that merchandised related products. Program sponsors, such as Health magazine, also received placement on dedicated shippers and other freestanding displays.CVS/pharmacy partnered with "Heart Truth" and the Cleveland Clinic to produce a booklet entitled "Your smart guide to a healthy heart." The booklet featured heart-health content and $57 in Extra Bucks savings on OTC, medical, personal care and healthy food SKUs from private labels and national brands, including "The Heart Truth" sponsors Diet Coke and Johnson & Johnson. Shelf signs communicated the Extra Bucks offers in stores. Weekly circulars directed consumers to pick up the booklet in stores and promoted the chain's month-long "Heart Beat" event. CVS also offered blood pressure and cholesterol screenings at in-store MinuteClinic locations.Other retailers supported Heart Month with fundraising campaigns and health screenings. Among the activity:Walgreens boasted of its $160,000 contribution to the American Heart Association in conjunction with Bayer, Colgate-Palmolive, Pharmavite's Nature Made, Schering-Plough's Coricidin, and Wyeth's Centrum and Caltrate. The chain also encouraged shoppers to "Donate & Feel Great" by contributing $1 or $5 to the AHA at checkout throughout February. Shoppers who made a $5 donation received a $5 coupon for Bayer products. The chain's EasySaver rebate catalog tied heart health into another February designation by encouraging consumers to "Celebrate a Healthy Black History Month" and saluting AHA president-elect Dr. Clyde W. Yancy, who is renowned for his efforts to drive awareness of heart disease among African Americans.&nbspKroger pharmacies offered free health screenings comprising $40 worth of cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes and body mass index tests. Consumers scheduled the screenings online or by phone. Partnering brands, including products from Nestle, General Mills and PepsiCo, were identified by shelf tags in stores.&nbspKmart hosted a "Healthy Heart Event" on Feb. 18, administering free blood pressure screenings and distributing health-related information.

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