Ray-Ban aims to reach new heights

Luxottica has launched its 2005 Ray-Ban television advertising campaign, which will run from May 9 to June 19 on Channel 4 and E4, alongside cult programmes including Desperate Housewives and Big Brother.
The campaign develops the Change Your View theme, with the Go Up film shot in Buenos Aires, directed by Italian Paolo Monico and developed by McCann Erickson. The film took four days to shoot, used 150 extras and a team of 80 people and will be shown in 30-second and 20-second cuts. The commercial talks about the courage to see the world from a different point of view, and features actors wearing Ray-Bans who climb on to anything from a library table, a car roof, a newspaper vending machine, to traffic lights and a rooftop.
Speaking at the campaign launch, Ermes Stefanutto, Luxottica's UK and Ireland manager, explained that the advertisement followed the success of the 2004 campaign. Last year was the first time Ray-Ban had invested in TV commercials, a move that allowed the company to carry on its double-digit growth of the past four years and also helped to reinforce Ray-Ban's ophthalmic brand.
Vanessa Lopes, Luxottica's Ray-Ban brand manager, described Ray-Ban as the world's most powerful eyewear brand and the top advertising spender in the eyewear market. She said that Luxottica had invested in its growth, product quality and advertising since it acquired the brand in 1999.
The UK market was fourth in Europe after Italy, Spain and France and Ray-Ban was the top-selling eyewear brand here last year, she said, pointing out that 22 per cent of adults aged 18-40 when asked to name an eyewear brand said Ray-Ban first.
The new campaign was part of the company's aim to keep its leadership and grow into new segments, refreshing the brand image and targeting young users, said Lopes.
The advertisement features a number of Ray-Ban sunglasses including aviator Model 3025, along with optical model 5052, and will be shown 162 times on air. The campaign aims to cover 48 per cent of all UK adults, with more than 22 million people seeing the advertisement, on average over three times.
Channel 4's Mike Elsey, strategic sales manager, said that Channel 4 resonated with a younger audience, and he anticipated that eight million in the 16-34 age group would see the campaign.
As well as the television advertising, Lopes explained that Ray-Ban was continuing its tradition of product placement in film, with all the main characters in the Sahara blockbuster wearing Ray-Bans, including an optical model, giving Ray-Ban 354 seconds of total exposure.
Ray-Ban is also continuing its sponsorship of Formula 1 with BAR Honda, which she said gave important visibility at international level and helped to reinforce the brand.
The Ray-Ban website (www.Ray-Ban.com) was a significant international tool, with more than two million hits last year, mostly to the Collection section, lasting on average eight minutes, added Lopes.