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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