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WOONSOCKET, R.I. — As vice president of retail front-store and omnichannel marketing, Erin Condon leads the teams that drive the integrated marketing plans and shopper experience in CVS Pharmacy stores. “I have the pleasure of leading the Retail Marketing team that has responsibility for driving customer growth and traffic to our physical and digital storefronts with demand creation, demand capture efforts and CRM strategies, along with the team that is responsible for our shopper experience in-store, and the team that is driving brand strategy and activation within our retail business,” explains Condon.
“The challenges in my role are many of the same challenges my marketing peers face: The consumer is changing rapidly, and being in front of where they will go next keeps us on our toes. The economy is uncertain, and in a world where everything is more accessible for the consumer, brand differentiation becomes more challenging,” she adds.
Condon notes that among the achievements she is most proud of during her time at CVS Health is that she is working for and with some of the brightest marketing minds. “I take pride in having helped develop and accelerate our digital marketing capabilities and bringing those capabilities to the point where we were able to stand up our own media exchange, cMx. I am also proud of the work we have done to differentiate ourselves with consumers by making purpose-driven moves that benefit the consumer and have business impact. Five years ago, we did this with our stance on digitally altered imagery in the beauty industry and the negative effects on young girls and women, with the introduction of the Beauty Mark. And most recently, in October of last year, we launched HERe, Healthier Happens Together to demonstrate our allyship to women, by taking a stand on period equity and other societal and systemic gaps in health care for women.”
Condon says that there are a host of challenges in the omnichannel marketing category today. “There is no shortage of data — quantitative and qualitative — and the challenge for marketers and business teams is really sifting through what is most important and identifying the insights that are most actionable. As marketers, it’s equally important to know what consumers are or aren’t doing as it is to know why, because without really understanding why it is harder to action successfully.”
She points out that despite a challenging economy, consumers continue to prioritize health and well-being. “They are taking vitamins and supplements to boost everyday immunity. Beauty is still a growing part of wellness, particularly the skin care routine, and consumers are seeking lower-cost options to maintain those routines, as seen by searches like ‘drug store dupes’ on the rise. And they also continue to value relationship wellness — spending on the little things that make big memories around the holidays.”
Condon says CVS is working on a number of exciting programs for 2023. “This year, we’re expanding upon the initial success of our HERe platform, particularly connecting this to our health equity priorities — most recently, we offered heart health education and free screenings for women, while continuing to take bold stances on the pink tax and menstrual tax; these efforts are resonating with many stakeholder groups.
“From a channel perspective, we continue to adapt to a rapidly changing landscape, leveraging influencers aligned to our brand values in channels like TikTok, for example. We are also seeing benefit from our content strategy efforts — creating and curating first- and third-party content that connects to products and services, providing a total health solution in a unique and ownable way — these efforts are driving traffic and engagement,” she notes.
