Picture
gallery: Free supplies to Malaysian, Hong Kong and UAE
hospitals.
New sample:
one dose, one bottle.
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Direct
promotion to mothers
During their
hospital stay or upon discharge, new mothers often receive
gift packs directly from company reps or through health
workers. Gifts include formula samples, feeding bottles,
coupons and gifts such as diaper bags, diapers, bottle
bags, towels, bibs, video cassettes and CDs. Cards inside
the packs invite parents to fill in a form and return
it to the company. The information goes into an electronic
mailing list used by the company for targeted marketing
at one, three, four or six months, times when mothers
are most vulnerable.
Nestlé
gift packs in Canada.
FREE
NOW, PAY LATER
Monitoring
in 2000 witnessed an alarming resurgence in free supplies,
a time-tested technique to encourage routine bottle feeding.
Baby food companies know all too well that free supplies
are an effective way to interfere with breastfeeding and
induce mothers into using their brands. 93% of mothers
are likely to continue with the brand they were given
at the hospital because of implied medical endorsement.
For the company, free supplies are an investment that
will be recovered through future sales. On average, each
bottle-fed baby will consume US$ 450 worth of milk per
year.
The potential
for brand loyalty and its influence on sales are so great
that companies are known, for example, to enter into contracts
with hospitals to be their exclusive supplier of free
infant formula. On top of that they pay the hospital US$
25 to US$30 per infant fed on that brand! In some countries,
companies take turns supplying formula to hospitals. In
North America, there are longer-term exclusivity contracts.
Free or low-cost
supplies are usually unsolicited donations and are delivered
at regular intervals. For example, a hospital in the UAE
reports that it receives 26 tins of Wyeth's S-26 every
week. In Mexico, 12 tins of Mead Johnson's Enfamil Pre-Maturos
are delivered to one hospital every 4-6 weeks.
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