Page 92 - Retail Pharmacy November/Decemeber 2020

46 ANNUAL REPORT
being accelerated by the pandemic.
As people seek to take more control over their health, self-care will drive innovation as well as growth of brands and services that already exist. This is an exciting opportunity for businesses like ours that seek to support the everyday health of Australians.
In fact, the role of the pharmacy is critical to enabling people to take greater responsibility for managing their health. Pharmacies are at the heart of communities and can provide accessible healthcare advice for consumers looking to treat minor symptoms themselves – such as a mild headache or a cold – or
Empowering people in a quest for better health
Dave Rankine, Regional Director ANZ, RB Health
The past 12 months have been unlike any other time. We’ve been presented with challenges that no crisis response plan ever
considered. We faced a health and economic crisis shortly after Australia was facing an existential environmental crisis as our country burned during
the catastrophic bushfire season. With our ‘frontline workers’ changing from firefighters to healthcare workers during the course of 2020, one word continues to resonate: resilience.
Despite being faced with significant disruption from global supply chains and the personal and professional challenges of working from home amid social distancing and lockdowns, and barriers to connecting with family in Australia
or offshore, RB has faced into the wind and continued to tackle obstacles
with resilience and ambition. With this tenacity, we’ve been able to grow, adapt and pivot to empower people to take their health into their own hands and deliver against our purpose to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner, healthier world – at a time when this matters more than ever.
In a world of fake news, our goal was to maintain consumer trust and confidence by leaning into our leadership voice through education. With the backing
of science, we worked collaboratively with industry and regulatory bodies to clarify or disprove misinformation, such as the negative relationship between ibuprofen and Covid-19 and the efficacy
manage chronic conditions themselves, such as osteoarthritis, with the advice of a pharmacist.
We’re committed to supporting our customers by understanding consumer needs and focusing on products and commercial innovation that deliver against these insights. And we’ll continue to collaborate with you to drive category growth and improve health outcomes through education and access to consumer healthcare products.
Another trend and opportunity that has emerged strongly during 2020 and will continue to gain momentum is digital health and e-commerce. People have
of ingesting or injecting disinfectants such as Dettol (thanks Mr Trump!) We used platforms at our disposal to further educate and reinforce good hygiene practices advised by the World Health Organisation and the Australian Health Department with a consistently clear and trusted voice, helping consumers navigate the uncertainties and anxieties of the ‘new normal’.
Our distribution network for Dettol has also changed this year, expanding via partnerships with the likes of Uber and Cricket Australia. These partnerships don’t just ensure a return to ‘normal’ for Aussies as they travel from A to B and indulge
in (arguably) our national sport. The partnerships also increase our product footprint and create a new platform for us to continue educating consumers on the role of our product outside the home, creating better hygiene habits that will continue well after Covid-19.
We’ve had the opportunity to strengthen valuable relationships by supporting our customers, recognising pharmacists as the ‘forgotten’ frontline workers. By engaging the Pharmacy Guild of Australia to identify the greatest need, we were able to meaningfully support pharmacists through the pandemic. This resulted in RB sending almost 4000 care packages to Guild member pharmacies, to say ‘thank
you’ for their hard work and diligence
in keeping us safe. We also made
a $10,000 donation to Pharmacists’ Support Service, allowing them to update their phone system, which experienced increased usage during the pandemic as Aussie pharmacy teams dealt with increased demand and business pressures.
In living our purpose to make health and hygiene accessible to everyone,
embraced new approaches that drive connectivity, such as telehealth, and improve the accessibility of advice and products, such as online delivery. While this space can be challenging for our industry, it represents opportunity, and will no doubt continue to evolve as we learn and adapt.
From a personal perspective, my daily life has changed more than ever this year. But I’ve found real value in exploring new ways of working, living and connecting. The resilience I’ve found, and the people around me have demonstrated, surprised me in the best possible way. Let’s embrace change and share what we learn.
locally we partnered with Meals on Wheels, Wayside Chapel in Sydney’s Kings Cross and GIVIT to provide much needed product and funding to support vulnerable communities, including bushfire victims, the isolated and the elderly. Globally we were quick to act at the outset of the virus, donating
£5.5 million in cash and antibacterial product to combat the virus outbreak in China. In March, RB launched the Fight for Access Fund, donating £37 million towards the collective fight against the spread of Covid-19 with the immediate focus of addressing the stress faced by consumers and communities, to break the chain of infection.
As we near year’s end, we’re looking ahead, not back. We’re laser focused on the role both RB and our customers, such as pharmacies, can play in providing education and accessibility to ensure consumers feel confident in their return to work and play. Together, let’s empower people to proactively take their health into their own hands, taking a holistic, sustainable approach to improve overall wellbeing – physical, mental and social.
Our business model will continue to evolve with a global team dedicated to forging partnerships that will improve accessibility to health and hygiene products out of home. Complementing this is a strong pipeline of innovation
to create new products, which become increasingly relevant as our environment continues to change. And while we’re focused on doing the right thing always, this needs to include a concerted effort on achieving our sustainable objectives, to ensure we’re creating a healthier, happier world for generations to come.
Together with our partners, we can make a difference.
RETAIL PHARMACY • NOV/DEC 2020