Shoppers Drug Mart wants Canadians to rediscover Life

Shoppers Drug Mart wants Canadians to refamiliarize themselves with its private label line, so it has launched a campaign called “Rediscover Life Brand” to help reacquaint consumers with what is already its largest health brand.

The brand has a very high awareness (both aided and unaided), according to Shoppers Drug Mart vice-president of communications and corporate affairs Tammy Smitham. The goal of this campaign is to get even more Canadians choosing Life Brand from the shelves and making them aware of the line’s 1,400 product offerings.

It’s one of the biggest campaigns that Shoppers Drug Mart has undertaken for Life Brand in several years, said Smitham. With some out-of-home work now in-market, the company has leveraged several of its own channels to roll out the work.

For example, in-store POP elements include signage on “quads” (four-sided product displays typically found at the front of the store), window posters and shopping cart signage. Staff are wearing t-shirts to support the campaign and there is also some sampling activity.

The campaign is also being featured in flyers via ribbons and flaps, as well as in incremental inserts that support various Life product categories.

Shoppers Drug Mart has also posted a 30-second video on its website that references the 1,400 products in the line and the fact that it’s existed for more than 50 years. It also mentions the money back guarantee.

Beyond the company’s own website, the video is running as pre-roll on several media outlets’ websites, including ones owned by Corus, Shaw Media and Bell Media. For example, said Smitham, it’s appearing on sites such as HGTV.ca, FoodNetwork.ca and as pre-roll for premium programs like Grey’s Anatomy and Dr. Phil for viewers that watch them online.

In the French market, the video appears through the Olive network, Canoe.ca, MSN, Google, Sympatico and as digital pre-roll related to Astral’s TV programming online.

There are no plans at this point to use the video as a TV spot, said Smitham.

Along with the campaign, Shoppers Drug Mart has refreshed the packaging of many of its Life Brand products with a more modern logo (it’s now more of a circle than an oval).

In addition, some new Life Brand formulations and products are being introduced. “It’s a great opportunity because it is the new year… so people are moving back to being more healthy,” said Smitham.

The campaign runs until March.

This article originally appeared in Marketing magazine.