Boots’ ‘prescribe kindness’ campaign: A case study of one UK retailer’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper covers the marketing programmes undertaken during the COVID pandemic by Boots, the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer (part of Walgreens Boots Alliance, with over 2,200 stores ranging from local community pharmacies to large destination health and beauty stores) whose purpose is to serve their customers’ well-being for life. At the start of the pandemic, Boots introduced a new approach, ‘Prescribe Kindness’, throughout the business and in its ongoing communication to customers. The retailer used research and social listening to capture the mood of the nation and the questions and concerns voiced by many during an unprecedented period of certainty. Using this insight, Boots was able to produce timely and relevant content targeted at the right consumers at the right time, meeting their need to have the very best and most relevant health and well-being information during and beyond periods of lockdown. As a result, Boots saw an unprecedented increase in customer engagement and strengthened brand health and customer metrics, which have given the brand a strong foundation as consumers’ lives evolve again beyond the original periods of lockdown in the UK. The brand has also learnt valuable lessons on delivering a faster speed to market with more relevant and targeted content tapping into themes that are highly relevant in people’s lives today and has helped to shape its new brand purpose — ‘Boots. With You. For Life’.