Respario Digital Advertising Group [1] of Dallas, Texas has partnered with Real Digital Media [2] to deliver Cardinal Health’s new Pharmacy Health Network [3] choosing the latter’s NEOCAST SaaS offering to drive it.
The network, which is designed to reach health-conscious retail pharmacy customers at the point-of-influence, was introduced earlier this month at the Cardinal Health Retail Business Conference as revealed EXCLUSIVELY last week by ourselves. [4]
Over 700 pharmacies signed up for the program during the conference although Cardinal Health plans to make the Pharmacy Health Network [5] available to the more than 5,000 independent retail and franchised pharmacies it serves throughout the United States!
The Pharmacy Health Network will provide health-oriented programming designed to educate, inform and entertain customers, interspersed with sponsor and location-specific messages.
Respario, which has established a dedicated network operations center to manage the Pharmacy Health Network, is responsible for network installation, management and programming and we will be visiting Ian Stone, Respario’s Chief Experience Officer in a CEO SPOTLIGHT [6] very shortly.
Ian Stone told us “The goal of Pharmacy HealthNetwork is to help pharmacists and advertisers connect with health-conscious consumers when they visit their local pharmacy and educate those customers with relevant information at the point-of-influence. The typical consumer visits their pharmacy more than once a month to access professional, personalized and useful advice. The Pharmacy Health Network aims to augment this relationship by delivering programming that enhances consumer awareness regarding their health choices and options”.
The Pharmacy Health Network system is described as including a “32 inch commercial grade LCD screen, a media player that receives content from a central server, a directional speaker system and a high quality brochure rack” and INTERESTINGLY there are NO upfront or ongoing costs to participating local pharmacies and the only items required to participate are electrical power and a shared high speed Internet connection.
Ken Goldberg, CEO of Real Digital Media, was quoted as saying “The launch of Pharmacy Health Network is an exciting event that represents the efforts of three companies working collaboratively to establish the objectives, requirements and metrics required for digital signage success. Cardinal Health’s involvement as owner of the network is a significant development for digital out-of-home advertising. Their long standing relationships with various suppliers will greatly benefit Respario’s efforts to engage media planners and agencies seeking to take advantage of an advertising outlet dedicated to the health and wellness segment.
Ken’s correct – Cardinal Health’s involvement as owner is a SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT.
Hats off all round!