{"id":1302,"date":"2025-06-03T17:18:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T21:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/?p=1302"},"modified":"2025-06-03T17:23:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T21:23:25","slug":"another-chapter-in-retail-marketing-closes-a-great-branding-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/?p=1302","title":{"rendered":"ANOTHER CHAPTER IN RETAIL MARKETING CLOSES A GREAT BRANDING STORY."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>KEN BANKS\u2019BLOG MAY.JUNE 2025<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"KEN BANKS&#039; BLOG MAY:JUNE 2025\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/s2R8NMoFB90?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>PRESS PLAY&gt;&gt;TO VIEW THIS MONTH\u2019S WELCOME VIDEO<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>ANOTHER CHAPTER IN RETAIL MARKETING CLOSES A GREAT BRANDING STORY.<\/p>\n<p>I joined Eckerd Drugs in 1979 and on my first visit to the company, I was given a tour of the new corporate headquarters in Clearwater\/Largo Florida.\u00a0 I was impressed by the new building and the optimism of the management as it prepared to open its 1000<sup>th<\/sup> stores as one of America\u2019s top drug store chains.\u00a0 The company sold out to J. C Penney and its operations (and this building) were sold for offices of other companies in the area.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After I returned to the Tampa Bay area a few years later, I often drove by the office and reminisced about the memories I shared with so many great people.\u00a0 Later, the YMCA gym I belonged to built its new facility directly behind the Eckerd HQ building and the memories were refreshed every week as I drove by.\u00a0 A couple weeks ago, my entrance to the Y was closed and it was announced that the Eckerd building and parking deck were being torn down and will be replaced by a manufacturing operation.\u00a0 It\u2019s been disheartening to watch the bulldozer demolish the 45-year old structure, and I thought it would be a good time to share my memories of my career job in branding and what made the company successful for many years.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Jack Eckerd started the business in the 1960\u2019s when he recognized the potential for a drug chain in Florida. His family had other Eckerd chains in Pennsylvania, Delaware and Charlotte, so he saw an opportunity and then let his genius and common sense lead the way.\u00a0 Eckerd built a successful chain on an outstanding prescription business, a market-leading photo business, and a strong commitment to promotional advertising.\u00a0 In fact, the company offered many non-drug items that made it one of the most convenient store experiences in its markets.<\/p>\n<p>The company grew through acquisitions and an aggressive real estate plan and eventually became the largest market share leader in its 15-state marketing area in the Southeast U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, the company went public and with a new CEO, Stew Turley, and was successful growth story that eventually grew to over 2500 stores.\u00a0 Stew, who passed away last year, put great emphasis on building a loyal staff who built a strong customer service brand. Its pharmacy was always the preferred choice in its markets and the photo business grew to the point where Eckerd was the largest retail photo processing company in the nation and Kodak\u2019s largest\u00a0 customer.\u00a0 As the market grew more competitive and take-over attempts began to bloom, Eckerd decided to go private with an LBO that proved to be one of the most successful retail LBO\u2019s in the country.\u00a0 I had the great opportunity to be part of that process, and I thank the leadership of the company for it every year as I moved on.\u00a0 We had created several great branding strategies that gained national recognition, and we relied heavily on consumer research to build the success of these brands.\u00a0 The market tightened, and Stew made a monumental decision to look closely at what it would take to be successful long-term. Partnering the McKinsey Group consultants, we turned the company inside out and talked in real depth with our customers and our competitors\u2019 customers alike and learned that despite the heavy dependence on sale\/promotional ads, the vast majority shopped our stores because they need something and wanted a store that they could trust every week (sometimes more) and get a good value at the same time.\u00a0 The stores were remodeled to make them more convenient and appealing, our dedication to our brands was supported with increased budgets, and internal marketing became as important as the eternal media efforts.\u00a0 For me, it was the opportunity for the marketing career I dreamed of when I joined P&amp;G out of grad school years earlier. We dared to be different, and the customers responded well.\u00a0 Increased competition by food and discount retails (and online later) continued the challenges.\u00a0 Eckerd divested itself of other retail ventures that drained the resources and profits, and subsequently sold out to JCP.\u00a0 The passion and commitment to the drug business waned, the drug chain was broken up and sold to other chains, and in 2005, Eckerd closed for good.\u00a0 It was a great ride and I value the relationships that I was able to develop with my fellow employees, other retail marketers, and suppliers all over the country. It enabled me to join other retailers and agencies to grow my branding expertise and subsequently start my own consulting business for 20 years.\u00a0 The knowledge I gained helped me launch a career as a public speaker on branding, co-author a few books, and share perspectives via these blogs which continue today.<\/p>\n<p>As I look at the dust and debris that is falling near me now at Eckerd HQ, I\u2019m thankful for this great opportunity TO help others be successful in building great brands and relationships.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Thanks,<\/p>\n<p>Ken<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KEN BANKS\u2019BLOG MAY.JUNE 2025 PRESS PLAY&gt;&gt;TO VIEW THIS MONTH\u2019S WELCOME VIDEO &nbsp; ANOTHER CHAPTER IN RETAIL MARKETING CLOSES A GREAT BRANDING STORY. I joined Eckerd Drugs in 1979 and on my first visit to the company, I was given a tour of the new corporate headquarters in Clearwater\/Largo Florida.\u00a0 I was impressed by the new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1307,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302\/revisions\/1307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kenbanks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}