In a breakout session for Retail Dive's virtual event on post-holiday season learnings, Mike Wier, Vice President of Store Brands at CVS Health sat down with Highlight Chief Revenue Officer Calista Corley to share how CVS Health’s best-in-class product development and evolution have created a brand portfolio that delivers on consumer wants and needs–and how the team has set themselves up for product success in 2025 and beyond.

Retail Dive transcript

 Calista Corley: Hello, everybody. And thank you so much for joining us today. We are here to talk about owning success for your owned brands. If we learned anything from 2024 specifically the holiday season, it is that own brands are going beyond affordability and investing and focusing on building products that consumers Love that delight consumers.

That is the topic we're here to talk about today. Thank you again so much for being here with Mike and I. Quick housekeeping item: We have a chat Q & A on the right side of the screen. Please enter any questions you have. We will do our best to answer them as they come in. But if we don't get a chance to don't worry, we will follow up an email and make sure all your questions get answered.

We're going to start with introduction. So you know who we are here today, and then we're going to get into a discussion, which is going to be fun. I'm close to Corley. I'm the chief revenue officer here at Highlight. Highlight was purpose built by the incredible founder and CEO, Dana Kim, to pull the pain out of product research.

Specifically, we support research across the entire product lifecycle, but where the most Pain typically exists is where it comes to in context learning. So that physical product in home research that is so critical and the data and insights are so important. But historically that process has been very painful.

Our mission is to support brands like Mike and CVS to build better products for people on the planet. And we are doing that by being the first and only vertically integrated product intelligence platform.  For me personally, I've been in the research space for over 20 years, very passionate about product research.

And thank you again for being here today. I'm going to kick it over to Mike for his introduction. 

Mike Wier: Hi, everyone. Hi, Calista. Thanks for introducing me. I'm Mike Wier, Vice President of Store Brands at CVS. I've been at CVS for over a decade now, focused on the retail experience, and I've had the pleasure of leading the Store Brands team for the last two and a half years.

My focus is on branding sourcing product development and ultimately growing the Store Brands portfolio within CVS and pleasing our millions of customers every day. Thanks for having me.

 Calista Corley: Thank you, Mike. I know the audience is very excited to hear from you. Very excited about the first question up.

We're gonna move to the discussion portion. One thing that I know is top of my mind, and certainly I think the audience's mind, Mike, is we know that CVS in particular - most brands today - are focused on meeting consumer needs. And that is absolute top of mind, especially as we reflect and we've gone through this peak holiday season.

I would love to know how you think about at CVS, keeping the shopper at the core of your own brand strategy.  

Mike Wier: Yeah, that that has to be the starting point. Developing great brands to great great store brands is really something about appealing to the retailers unique shopper base starts with deeply understanding our consumer.

We're fortunate enough to be able to do that through a lot of internal research platforms like extra care. We can tap into a loyal customer base, really knows our shop, couple that with external research to really understand the unique needs for our customers, what segments we're trying to approach, and then ultimately come down to a strategy around a handful of really strong brands that can meet those customer needs and then a customer experience.

So as we think about those brands, and I mentioned we have to understand customer need states, the categories we want to address, and ultimately we need to build a great brand portfolio strategy with a roster of brands, a small roster of brands that can appropriately play and address customer needs across those categories. 

Where do those brands play? And sometimes more importantly, where do they not play is kind of like the key decisions that I have to make there. We have a lot of, as a result, we have a lot of great brands. CVS and healthcare, one another and beauty. We just launched
Well Market and snacks. Maybe I can, I can talk about that in a second.

But we also then need to assign which brand goes to which category. And I think that's like where - like, that's fun. The strategy is great, but what I also really love doing with this role is getting to build amazing products for that brand to meet a defined customer experience across that portfolio. 

And that's really when we start looking and defining what the customer experience expectations are around the brand, and it really needs to ensure every single product meets a standard that I'm setting. What items should we plan? What white spaces to expand in the packaging architecture, defining those product experiences.

And then ultimately, once I get we move all those products forward, validating that where we on the process is where we want to be because we can't have any anyone one item not meeting the standard set for the brand. I mentioned Well Market. I think that's one that I could shape a little bit for you.

 Calista Corley: Yeah, I know it. I know it well, and I'm excited for you to share with the audience.

Mike Wier: Yeah, so I have a few good stories, but Well Market is one that we launched this year. Highlight has certainly helped and we can talk about ways that that they helped here. But what we set out to do is we knew that there was a brand strategy and a brand opportunity to bring a new store brand to the CVS product portfolio that had great tasting products with a clear and simple navigation that has modern appeal to our customers. It started with the trends, the research, understanding, what did we know? We knew eating was really important. It was more than satisfying hunger. It was about aligning a customer to their wellness goals, their dietary preferences, their consumer preferences, the range of products they needed.

What were the current trends in food? You know, things that were highlighted with plant based alternatives, innovative flavor combinations. And yeah, we still have like indulgent treats in there, but it started with that. And then it coupled with insights that we caught, we garnered from our customer base around the rising concerns of food, allergy, allergies, growing demand for alternative protein sources, and our diverse selection of allergen free plant based options that accommodate like a wide range of dietary needs.

No one has a single dietary journey. Everyone is unique. And so what we needed to do is know that we wanted something that tasted really good and tried to cater to a lot of different types of customers. So we set out on a goal  to be crafted by experts, tested by food lovers, and ultimately developed a really compelling selection of snacks, beverages and groceries that highlight a delightful fusion of what I'd call irresistible flavors and impactful nutrition options in every bite to better your day.  So to do that, what that really meant was our brand and packaging needed to meet customer expectations. And what we do there is we build the brand, we engage our customers. What we heard is we need simple packaging at shelf to understand what, what's most important from a customer perspective on what they need to select.

For example, a good source of fiber might be highlighted on one product. Maybe there's a potential allergen or another product that's hired, or maybe it's allergen free. And then ultimately, the products really needed to have the right customer appeal. And this is actually one of the places we partnered with you all.

We need to make sure that the items are on trend and our flavor crafts people really brought some unique and innovative flavors that you did. They did.

 Calista Corley: Yeah, exciting research.  

Mike Wier: And you know, some of them we look at say boy that doesn't appeal to me, but maybe it appeals to others. And so it was really important for us to get those out into market, taste test them with real customers, validate that that we can be proud of.

And and then hit the green light to move them forward. So I think that's like one example of how we we take our brand strategy and then really like it to move products forward.  

 Calista Corley: Yeah, that's great. And what a successful like experience that was for watching your success and being a part of it. So I'm so glad you got to share that.

My one thing that I think about, I personally am a CVS customer. I love CVS. I'm in your stores often, and I'm wowed by the amount of own brands. First of all, I'm not sure if everyone recognizes how many own brands you have on every shelf and every aisle of CVS. But with that in mind, looking around, it's so competitive.

So just thinking about the diverse set of portfolio of products everywhere on shelves today, you have your own brand rock in it by the way, but how is it that you stay ahead in such a competitive space?

Mike Wier: It's it's about setting a bar and being diligent across the portfolio. So the CVS store brands has been selling products for decades.

We have a long history of satisfying customers and the well market is a great example. I think CVS health brand is probably another good example of how to stay ahead. We offer thousands of store brands products for health and wellness options, including O. T. C.'s, First aid, vitamin supplements, so we want to deeply understand each one of those items and ensure that it's right for our customers and meeting the quality standards for our company.

But more importantly, for consumers, and it's really paramount to the success of our brand. So we say thousands of items across the portfolio all need to meet a set standard.  Yeah, that that's likening to going to a minor league baseball game and getting to know intimately every single fan in the stadium.

And that's that's a hard job. But what we do behind the scenes is we enabled, we created tools to to ensure they deliver on the best customer experiences and ensuring that we have many ways to please and enhance the bar while delivering on those expectations. What I've done is and what we've done is we've built new tools to help us understand more about the products, interpret customer feedback in much faster ways, and found ways to like synthesize that feedback. So we can really pinpoint who are those, who are those minor league baseball team customers that I want to get to now. And that allows us to raise the bar where we need to and and build on what I would call already exceptional experiential quality.

Because above all that customer experience and that that satisfaction is paramount to the success. And that's why we can continue to stand behind the money back guarantee. If a customer isn't fully satisfied.  

 Calista Corley: Yeah, that's great work.  

Mike Wier: Yeah. And I think You know, I think another way that I think about it is really it's the quality that we help customers get high product, high quality product into it with a great national brand alternative.

But then what we're really doing is we're providing access from a convenience perspective across the thousands of communities we serve countless health solutions. From acute to solving first aid. And then you mentioned kind of tying it back to innovation here. So you know, what's someone like thinking about from an onboarding into a new health journey, such as diabetes and where like products that we can build or create new, that might solve some of those needs. 

 Calista Corley: Yeah. I was just thinking that as you were talking about product innovation and renovation and how critical it is to set a brand up for success. And one thing that you mentioned was speed and we hear that every day at highlight is the speed of renovation and innovation. Innovation is incredibly fast today and in order to meet consumer needs, but also to compete, you have to be able to make fast decisions, but with high confidence.

So I'm assuming you agree with that.

Mike Wier: Oh, absolutely. And, and it's really that, that renovation across the portfolio that helps us improve the the, the total brand hierarchy. And then some of that innovation really helps stand the brand up for like longer term success. So we're relentlessly listening to our customers from our internal feedback channels, like reviews, point of sales, local needs of customers, of course to, to really understand what, what are the opportunities to improve on our products.

And then you know, we mine the innovation from the trend. So I mentioned the health journey from someone on a diabetes journey. We introduced zero sugar gummy vitamins this year. It's a better alternative for those that might be looking for less caloric intake when they're taking their monthly vitamins.

So that's how we think about innovation and renovation. But it's really all to build that connection evolving the portfolio around three core strategies. It is: Focus on scalable, purpose driven brands, drive brand growth and customer loyalty for brands that feel relevant and meaningful to build that trust, and establish that brand as a destination to drive retail differentiation. And then, you know, what I've continued to reinforce here is lead with a consistent consumer experience across that so that I can build trust across the portfolio for our customers.  

 Calista Corley: Yeah. So what I hear you saying, innovation and renovation is a key to brand success and something clearly passionate about.

And CVS is doing an incredibly strategic and purposeful, focus-on-customer way. So it's great.

Mike Wier: Yeah. And I think, I think it's it's really about, like, I think I really have to reinforce the process that we, we developed, which is, I can't stress enough, about establishing a strong process for evaluating and reaffirming your your quality is really paramount to achieving the success of the strategy. I outlined above with that many items that we have to worry about. So to stay authentic to that as a health and wellness retailer, we need to really make sure our brands are designed to maximize quality and safety work as intended comply with regulations and satisfy customers.

That's table stakes. And we need to work with the manufacturers to and regulatory agencies such as the FDA to ensure that all those quality and safety standards are met or exceeded. But once we turn that corner, we get to bolster that process around the experiential part and understand like how the customers would like the flavor, the form, the ease of use.

What are their pain points? Where is there an opportunity to improve this product from an iterative perspective or even in a step change perspective to really build the next set of great products, and I think that's where the partnership with Highlight really came in. We were really able to leverage your in home use testing at scale to get valuable feedback on our products from real users that we can then incorporate into future product development roadmaps or potentially new product lines. I'm really excited about that partnership.

 Calista Corley: Yeah, me too. It's been a thrill and there's so much more to accomplish together, but it's been great to work with an organization like CVS because you are so rigorous to your point around process.

So we appreciate that. Mike, I will thank you. As a mother of three for the less sugar or no sugar vitamins because they are hard to find so thank you and CVS for that. And I want to end if it's okay with a burning question for me. You have accomplished so much you have such a important role at Such an incredible brand CVS.

And I'm curious, and I think the audience might be curious too, as to what are you most proud of as it relates to your own brand team or strategy, give us a little bit of what you're proud of most.

 Mike Wier: Yeah, you know, I've been here for a long time and I've, I've had the opportunity to see CVS change a few times in my career and each time I become prouder and more inspired to work here.

First, it's, you know, working at CVS Health I get to align the work that we do to a bold ambition, which is the ambition to transform health and wellness in America. And that's something that's a driving force for our enterprise, the front store, which I'm a part of the leadership team on. And it's really hard, but it's really fun because health is hard. To me this is something that fuels my ambition at CVS and I get the opportunity to work with so many other great colleagues in our rooms to find incredible moments to help shape people's lives and improve the environment we live in and the communities we serve. And that's really one of the things that motivates me to lead the store brands team.

And we ask ourselves the questions, you know, how can store brands relate to transforming health and wellness in America? Are there ways that we can drive impact and have a meaningful change in someone's lives for the care that they're trying to deliver for them or their loved ones every day, whether that means managing their symptoms for allergy - something as simple as that - preparing our skin for sunny days with facial products and sun care, or some of the opportunities I meant that could help game change some of the ways people take vitamins with less sugar.

So that's a little bit what it means for me. Mhm. I'm curious. You know, I talked a little bit about Highlight. Yeah. Tell me, like, what is it like getting inspired to work at Highlight and helping people like me?

 Calista Corley: Thank you, Mike. I was just going to say that listening to you, I feel motivated and I know the audience feels this as well inspired by you and what you're doing.

I will say every day at Highlight as a product intelligence platform supporting brands every day on our mission to build better products for people on the planet - and the planet is a big focus of ours - we definitely come to work passionate. So like you, we are passionate and appreciate the partnership. I really hope that everybody on this particular session.

Enjoyed yourselves. I learned a lot. Mike, thank you so much for the time with us here today. Really appreciate that. As I mentioned before, we will follow up with questions - if we didn't get to all of them - in email. And thank you so much Mike for joining. It is very clear. Customer centricity is critical, investing in customer voice, innovating and renovating rapidly is integral to the success of an own brand. So thank you for being with us today. Thank you, Mike, and have a great day.

Mike Wier: It was a pleasure. Thanks, everyone.