The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) are working in partnership with Precision Marketing Group (PMG) to launch NPA Connects, helping make pharmacy the healthcare hub of the community

NPA Connects includes an online design tool and is linked to a GDPR-compliant national database of households, allowing pharmacies to create hyperlocal communications educating people in their communities about the NHS & private services they offer.

NPA Connects will support bespoke campaigns and partner campaigns with major suppliers. It will also make it very simple for pharmacies to create and order Point of Sale and other marketing materials to use within their branches.

We anticipate the service will expand to support local online advertising campaigns via social media.

By coming together and pooling their collective reach and influence,

independent pharmacies can reach tens of millions of consumers living within the walk time of a pharmacy. NPA Connects combines GDPR-compliant data on 28 million households along with the ability to tailor messages, customise artwork, and publish advertising to local marketing channels including in-branch Point of Sale, printed direct mail, e-mail, social, and digital media. The consumer will receive relevant, hyperlocal messages from their local pharmacy about healthcare solutions to the issues that are directly affecting them in the place where they live, building awareness and changing behaviour.

Created to align with Pharmacy First and the critical need to support the NHS to improve primary care and healthcare outcomes while reducing the burden on GP Surgeries, NPA Connects will champion the services of the local pharmacy through a jointly funded campaign of communication.

Through combining the power of the 6,000 independent pharmacies, brands, and organisations and authorities that work with them, NPA Connects is a communications channel that enables pharmacy to tap on the shoulders of those that are most in need of healthcare services in their community.

Brand Appeal

As a collective, the NPA’s 6,000 Pharmacies are the largest group of pharmacy in the UK and therefore a powerful and influential organisation who are at the frontline in the battle to improve healthcare outcomes in the UK. They are, however, independent, and this makes it difficult for brand owners to work with them directly, although it is very much in the best interests of both parties to do so.

NPA Connects will enable brand owners to work with Pharmacy directly and subsequently reach the consumers that live closest to them. NPA Connects, as the name suggests, will create a direct connection to all 6,000 pharmacies and over 40 million consumers. It will provide a range of tools and services that will provide in-branch, outreach, and out-of-home campaigns to build awareness of their services to their local community. Changing behaviour, leads to improved healthcare outcomes.

As necessity is the mother of invention, we believe that to change widespread behaviour in how we, as a population, access primary care, we need to deliver innovative ways to communicate change. As a nation, we have a long history of delivering healthcare locally, so it makes sense to continue to communicate from a local standpoint. As patients, we engage more if the communication is from our local provider, a name we know and trust. We engage more if the message is relevant to us at our time of life, as a parent, and as an individual. We engage more if the message is tailored to us.

Working as a collective network of 6,000 pharmacies helps us change behaviour and improve outcomes, one location at a time.

Summary

• Through knitting together the catchment areas of up to 6,000 pharmacies, we create a collective reach of over 40 million.
• Communication is localised, relevant, and via the local Pharmacy.
• Messages delivered to demographically segmented audiences greatly increase the relevance of the communication.
• By working as a collective, we can deliver affordable solutions. We change behaviour and healthcare outcomes, one location at a time,

making independent pharmacies the healthcare hub of the community.

About Precision Marketing Group Ltd. (PMG)
Founded by Matthew Caldwell-Nichols (a pharmacologist) after previously working with major pharmaceutical brands to deliver healthcare products to market, Precision has worked to deliver marketing, learning, and distribution with Pharma and Pharmacy for over 28 years.

For more information, please contact:
Gary Howard
Gary.Howard@precision.co.uk

About the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).
The National Pharmacy Association is the representative voice of independent community pharmacies across the UK and a leading provider of services to the entire sector. Our aim is to support independent community pharmacies to succeed professionally and commercially for the benefit of their patients. As a not-for-profit organisation, we are committed to reinvesting in service provision.

For more information please contact:
Stephen Fishwick
press@npa.co.uk