WOONSOCKET – CVS Caremark Corp. has begun a review of the firms handling its marketing and advertising, Advertising Age reported Tuesday.
The trade publication said CVS presently has marketing contracts with Boston-based Hill Holliday, a unit of Interpublic Group of Cos.; Standard Times; and Conill Advertising, part of Publicis Groupe S.A.’s Saatchi & Saatchi subsidiary. CVS has engaged Pile & Company Inc. to conduct the reviews, which it wants wrapped up by March.
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Robert Price, CVS Caremark’s senior vice president of marketing and advertising, told Ad Age the company had invited its current contractors to participate in the review. CVS conducted its last marketing review eight years ago.
“Right now, our momentum and projected growth demand a more powerful and integrated media and creative strategy,” Price said. “The industry has evolved over the past eight years with new and innovative advertising tools and techniques. The consumer is more informed and involved in their health-care decisions than ever before and, as a result, media consumption has changed.”
He added: “Also, the retail landscape has changed significantly with the consolidation of competitors within our class of trade and the expansion of competition outside of our class of trade.”
CVS spent $143 million on measured media in 2008 and $92 million during the first three quarters of last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence figures quoted by Ad Age. The figures exclude the retailer’s ExtraCare loyalty-card program.
