CVS/Caremark - the brand, the myth, the legend.

As my discovery journey through the public relations of CVS/Caremark comes to an end, it's fair to say that my job of describing their PR to you was an easy one. CVS has a squeaky-clean reputation - free from evidence of any crises, any economic downturn, (and unfortunately -- any social media!) ... I'm still bitter about the blank Facebook fan page, obviously.

But to tweet or not to tweet --- CVS Caremark has answered the question. Their reputation secured their spot as the "go-to" pharmacy for all Americans (and Puerto Ricans). Their "Customer first" mentality is a success and each campaign CVS takes part in is another step in making the pharmacy and a dynamic, customer friendly one-stop-shop for all your lifestyle and medical needs.

Their mission statement: "We provide expert care and innovative solutions in pharmacy and health care that are effective and easy for our customers. " is a clear indicator of their brand image. What is a brand image, you ask? It's basically what a corporation wants customers to think about them, not necessarily think about their products.

But, CVS/Caremark does have a wide variety of products geared towards maintaining their reputation and appealing to customers. Take CVS brand makeup remover pads - $3.06 on sale with your ExtraCare savings card ... Neutrogena brand? Over $5. Does this make you happier about CVS? Does this solidify CVS's reputation as a customer-focused, low-priced haven? Effective pricing, and it's easy to walk down an aisle and pick up apple juice, flip flops and those makeup remover pads. I'm thinking CVS is pretty fabulous ...improving its brand image!

With its upstanding, responsible, easy-to-use brand image, CVS/Caremark conveys that every single American can shop in CVS without a problem, can get his prescriptions filled, get his medicine questions answered and save money while doing it. Especially in this economy, this brand image is extremely appealing to customers. And with campaigns publicizing CVS's "ExtraCare Card," the public can't ignore the evidence of savings.

With a fabulous annual report (See blog post below!) that makes CVS/Caremarks' financial successes crystal clear and easy to follow for even the most financially educated (...me) and savings programs geared towards customers, CVS/Caremark knows how to reach consumers and shareholders in a way that continues to maintain its fantastic reputation!

Not only does CVS/Caremark do a great job publicizing their financial standing and current sales, but also had an extremely successful international campaign to publicizing their new franchises in Puerto Rico and became involved in new research explaining patient-medication relationships. CVS/Caremark has a reputation for being dedicated to its customers, and I believe that with the addition of social media, CVS/Caremark will be proficient in all areas of great PR.

CVS/Caremark wants consumers to take their medicine!

In CVS/Caremark's most recent press release, the company describes its new partnership with research to find out why patients don't take their medication. This new research will go towards CVS' current and future intiatives and communciations strategies to reach consumers with the information.

The research, done in collaboration with Minds at Work of Cambridge, MA, set out to discover why so many patients decide to stop taking their medication against their doctors' orders. The research findings were collected through "hour long, 'hidden-motivation' interviews" to find out why patients put the cap on their pill bottle for good.

The results of the research were quite interesting and it will be a PR success for CVS if they can create a successful campaign from this research that promotes the importance of following the prescription advice of doctors. The most common reason for not taking medicine was that people felt that medications "interfered with their lives."

I think it'd be a great opportunity for CVS to launch a PR campaign geared towards education people on medication plans on how to integrate their medications into their daily lives. This campaign would be successful if it could teach consumers how to make medication a simple part of their daily routine -- not another time-consuming chore.

Another way that CVS could use this research to improve their relatiionship with

consumers is to create a campaign that builds consumers' trust in health professionals. Another reas

on that consumers stop taking medicine, the survey shows, is that "they feel that they know better than their doctors what [is] good for them."

In my opinion, CVS has hit a homerun in sponsoring this research. I'm going to keep checking up on CVS/Caremark's press releases and see if their public relations professionals are the same page.