In this Issue

DSN profiled six companies that sell on their American-made heritage as part of its "Made in America" report.

GREEN TOYS
MILL VALLEY, Calif. — Green Toys makes a line of classic children’s toys constructed from recycled, food-safe plastic and other environmentally friendly materials. The products not only help fuel the “Made in America” movement, the use of recycled materials helps distinguish the toy manufacturer by reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions.

Made in America. To suggest that this marketing message doesn’t resonate with today’s American consumer may come off as sacrilege, especially considering how job creation was a central issue in this month’s presidential election.

But there are two questions marketers of “Made in America” have to ask. First, does this marketing message have staying power?  And second, where does it rank in a consumer’s purchasing decision tree?

PENWORTHAM, England — Sometimes, in looking for new ideas in the retail industry, it helps to take a peek outside the borders of the United States. 


The year 2012 is coming to an end, and it’s been a big year for 
generic drugs.


It’s been several weeks now since Hurricane Sandy, virtually erased neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and New Jersey. For those of us who live and grew up here, the stories of loss and devastation are all around us. 


As many as 100 Rockaway boys from Xavier High School — my alma mater — lost their homes and everything in them. 


It’s times like these when you really understand what it means to be a part of this great city and its indomitable spirit.


The battle to capture and retain customers in a world where price, convenience and even customer service have become commoditized is in full swing. “The risk is you end up in a loyalty war [where] companies begin to use the loyalty scheme or the loyalty component of [the card] as another form of price escalation,” warned Bryon Pearson, president of LoyaltyOne and contributing editor to Colloquy, a magazine that has covered the loyalty marketing industry since 1990. “The intelligence that sits behind these programs is where the real value is,” he said.

Nielsen’s SVP consumer and shopper insights Todd Hale points to Kroger’s loyalty card as one of the best examples of consumer data aggregation. “Not only do you save money when you use their loyalty card, but you [also] save money no matter where you shop,” he said of Kroger’s 1-2-3 Rewards Visa Card, which is linked to its loyalty program.

That catapults actionable shopper data to an entirely new level — Kroger knows what its best customers are buying from other retailers.

While there is still plenty of room for improvement, a growing number of patients have either already received or plan to receive a flu shot this year compared to one year ago. According to an online survey of more than 900 AccentHealth viewers conducted in September, 57% of patients have received or plan to receive a flu shot this year, versus 53% in 2011. 


To see more Patient Views, click here.