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Magazines also offer the appropriate style environment and the impact of the advertising may be intensified if placed near related editorial. Campaign executions themselves will usually just feature a close-up shot of a pair of sunglasses or a model wearing a pair of the sunglasses, although Dolce & Gabbana's 2002 campaign features six carefully posed models in different pairs. Calvin Klein ran an eight-page spread in selected magazines featuring sunglasses alongside other examples from its product range such as underwear.
Given the limitations on budget, even for larger players, public relations is vital to obtaining coverage of new models in general fashion shoots or specific accessories pieces or gaining publicity by having a brand worn by a celebrity.
Both sponsorship and product placement are potentially powerful tools for brand promotion although in practice sponsorship has not been as widely used as product placement, the latter being a more controllable cost. Film is a potentially useful medium, especially given the younger profile of typical UK cinema audiences, and its impact can be maximised with point-of-sale material. Ray Ban has been particularly noteworthy historically with films such as Men in Black and Top Gun, while La Dolce Vita , Bullit and, more recently, The Talented Mr Ripley , Terminator 2 and Bandits featured Persol sunglasses. The use of celebrities has become rather more widespread over the past two years, a tactic which allows for greater flexibility perhaps than straight product placement and one which can combine product placement with sponsorship. Most commonly this takes place in a sporting context, examples of which include:
What is important to all brands, however, is point-of-sale display and positioning. The major brands normally supply their own dedicated carousels or display cases, but the quality of maintenance of display and juxtaposition of brands remains at the discretion of retailers and it will therefore vary. Company representatives visit retailers and standards are improving through the more upmarket outlets, with the David Clulow -run in-store outlets being a pertinent example. However, space remains a problem for many retailers, not just on the possible use of point-of-sale promotional material, but on displaying the sunglasses themselves.