BEST PATIENTS Pharmacist EngagEmEnt Program

RITE AID | GO! PRODUCTIONSAPRIL, 29 2011

OVERVIEWRite Aid is in the midst of a 16-month long Best Patients analysis. Best Patients are the most

valuable Rite Aid pharmacy customers. While they represent just 5% of Rite Aid’s total patients,

they yield 45% of the pharmacy’s business. The extensive Best Patients study will detect therapy

patterns and early warning signs to identify these high value patients for Rite Aid pharmacies.

The research will then inform strategies and best practices to serve Best Patients best, so they

feel confident in Rite Aid’s care for years to come.

Once the study concludes, Rite Aid leadership will need to communicate its findings to its

nationwide network of 11,000 pharmacists. Through the Best Patients program, pharmacists

will come to understand who the Best Patients are, and how pharmacies can make a significant,

positive difference in their lives by providing outstanding service.

The question is, exactly how will the Best Patients program engage and inform Rite Aid

pharmacists across the country?

STRATEGIC APPROACHWe considered developing an online event experience to support the Best Patients program, but

after careful reflection, we do not feel an online event is the right solution. Online event initiatives

require long stretches of participation from users, and pharmacists are simply too busy during their

workday to devote the time necessary to make an online event most effective. An online event is also

technologically complex, making it challenging to implement within Rite Aid’s internal systems.

We understand what we really need to do with the Best Patients program is make an emotional

connection with the pharmacists. Pharmacists already have a basic understanding of the value of Best

Patients, so we don’t need to “train” them in the traditional sense. Rather we need to reinforce what

they already know, and convey some additional strategies that will build on that knowledge, and put

Best Patients in a meaningful, personal, emotional context.

One of the most powerful ways to make an emotional connection with an audience is through video.

Films and videos have the power to replicate real life and create empathy in an audience.

We also know that people learn best by doing, and interactivity is paramount to creating lasting effects.

So we recommend leveraging the powers of both video and interactive learning to create a revolutionary

Rite Aid Best Patients program to engage, educate and empower pharmacists with interactive video.

INTERACTIVE VIDEO_ EXAMPLE

Interactive videos are like choose-your-own-adventure games. They enable viewers to control the story

by making decisions along the way.

To see what we mean, click on the image below to view an interactive film recently released by

Mercedes-Benz:

Notice the film-like quality of the Mercedes-Benz production, and how much more engaged you are

with the content when you have the power to control the outcome. This is the type of experience we

recommend for the Best Patients program.

BEST PATIENTS_ INTERACTIVE VIDEO PROGRAM

We envision an interactive video in which pharmacists can first select

their point-of-view, choosing whether they want to play the role of

pharmacist or patient throughout the video. Then over the course of

the experience, participants will encounter characters and make choices

that determine how the video plays out.

For example, the user playing the role of pharmacist is approached by

a patient. Through a simulated conversation, the patient conveys her

treatment plan, then the user is prompted to evaluate whether the

patient is considered a Best Patient. The users clicks to make a choice,

setting into action a series of events that unfold over the course of a

few minutes. If the user makes the right choices along the way, the Best

Patient is satisfied and properly cared for. If the pharmacist makes a

misstep, the Best Patient takes her business elsewhere.

In the role of patient, the user experiences the pharmacy from the

other side of the counter. Most pharmacists would act as role models,

demonstrating the professionalism, courtesy, sensitivity, accuracy and

caring of the ideal Rite Aid pharmacist. To shake it up, maybe one

pharmacist provides comic relief, always doing the wrong thing in a

funny way…

This is but a glimpse of what could come of this video experience. The

possibilities are great, but at this point the characters and scenarios

are to be determined. We still have much to learn. Eventually we would

work together to find the right narratives, and weave in the strategies

and best practices determined by your research study. We’ll develop

scenarios and characters that will make the interactive video experience

as realistic and effective as possible. And with interstitial messaging

woven throughout each film-like experience, we’ll ensure participants

take away key learnings from the research currently underway.

WHY IT WORKSWe believe a self-guided, film-like experience is the right medium to

support the Best Patients program and deliver results because it is:

interactive

This approach integrates role-play training with the emotional resonance

of film. By directing their own film experience, pharmacists will actively

buy into the Best Patients program. The dynamic, strategically designed,

simulated encounters will create insights about Best Patients, and

empower pharmacists with the proven best practices they need to

provide the utmost service to these loyal and high value customers.

Life-like

From both the patient’s and pharmacist’s perspectives, the users will

experience life-like emotional encounters that will color their daily work

experiences. The film will tell stories of the Best Patients at the heart of

this program. And it will make the pharmacists the stars of their own

videos.

cool

Interactive video is a fresh and innovative medium. This approach

will catch people’s attention, and demonstrate how Rite Aid is taking

important steps to do things differently to help people best. It’s a

cutting-edge approach to launch an exciting new program. And the

experience will be so intriguing, impressive and fun, pharmacists will

want to participate.

segmented

The film experiences will be designed to last a few minutes at a time,

so pharmacists can participate during their busy workday with limited

computer access.

This solution can also roll out to everyone, yet it creates customized,

self-guided learning experiences for each individual. Pharmacists can

explore the interactive video one-on-one, when it works for them.

sustainable

An interactive video is also not simply a one-off experience – users

can go back time and time again to encounter different characters

and scenarios, and change the course of the video to experience more

content.

The production of the interactive video can also easily be changed and

revised over time. We could create another interactive video around your

Wellness Plus program for example, and weave the learnings and key

messages around that program into the interactive video experience.

The platform we create on your system could be also used to support

other programs down the line.

Efficient

Interactive video is a cost effective way to deliver focused information

to your network of 11,000 pharmacists in an simple and interesting way.

The medium complements other communication channels. It could

take the place of ordinary training videos, and introduce a new level of

interactive learning to Rite Aid wellness experts across the country.

TECHNICAL SOLUTIONTechnologically, the interactive film would be deployed on Rite Aid’s internal network to make it easy

for pharmacists to access the film from their workplace computers.

The film would require no user registration or authentication, but it would require input from the

pharmacist in order to progress or to play. We could create a pop up screen to prompt participants

to view the interactive video at the start of each day when they first log in to the computers. This way

Best Patients will become top-of-mind for the duration of the program and beyond. We could also

create the interactive video to play off a CD for manager and senior leadership who might prefer to

participate on their personal computers.

A range of authoring platforms could be used to create the film. This might be an ideal opportunity to

use Adobe Flash, which would result in relatively self-contained project files that are easy to deploy.

(Note: Most mobile devices do not support Flash, which is something to consider if we’re looking

to develop a mobile-friendly extension of the video. However, we think the film is most likely to be

accessed from computers, not from mobile devices.)

Ultimately, the choice of platform, the final feature set, the communication rollout plan and the

opportunities for interactivity would only be decided after collaborative planning sessions involving

Rite Aid stakeholders.

We look forward to having those conversations with the Rite Aid team, and becoming partners in the

development of a Best Patients program that will achieve your every goal for this initiative.

THANK YOU!