The eyes have it: cable applies its lens to consumers - advertising supplement - On Cable

Brandweek, April 13, 1998

Advertising contact lenses used to be a bit like preaching to the choir. Marketers targeted their brands to eye care practitioners using direct mail campaigns, point-of-sale materials and trade journal advertisements.

But in 1997, Atlanta-based CIBA Vision Corp., ranked second in sales of disposable contact lenses, broke with tradition. It launched a two-tiered $11 million campaign on national and local cable TV aimed at educating consumers about the benefits of using contact lenses.

CIBA Vision's response-driven campaign on national cable netted more than 1.1 million consumers requesting additional information-and cashing in on the company's free trial offer for one of three contact lens brands.

No longer willing to be the victim of ditties like "Guys don't make passes at girls who wear glasses" or quips about the bespeckled having "four eyes," consumers today have an array of convenient eye care alternatives with contact lenses, says Dave Sanderson, CIBA Vision Corp.'s vice president of North American Optics Marketing.

"Today's consumers, and prospective contact lens wearers, want to know their vision correction options," agrees Suzanne Bryant, vice president and management supervisor for Adair-Greene Healthcare Communications, which handled CIBA Vision' s campaign. Realizing that bland institutional advertising was not going to grab consumers, Sanderson and Bryant waded into consumer-marketing waters in 1996 with a $1 million print ad campaign in such teen and women's magazines as YM, Seventeen, Teen, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Essence, Self and In Style. Although that was effective, they realized that the fastest way to attract consumers was through cable television--and specific networks that shared their women 18-34 demographic. They dove into national cable with an $8 million campaign on E!, Lifetime, Comedy Central, MTV and USA.

The contact lens industry is ruled by two market-driven realities, both of which fueled CIBA Vision's strategy to fish for as many prospective customers as possible, says Bryant. The demographic of the lens wearer is generally between the ages of 16 and 35. After age 40, vision problems often require bi-focals--a situation not easily corrected by contact lenses, Bryant says. Additionally, contact lenses are an annuity business: Once a consumer selects a brand of lens, she is likely to remain a customer, Sanderson says.

Three separate 30-second commercials featured three contact lens brands, one for astigmatism, one for regular soft contacts and one for lenses that enhance eye color. Each spot concluded with a toll free number for more information. After consumers called and provided their addresses, they received an information packet and vouchers for free trials of contact lenses--a value of about $50. The commercials ran in flights throughout three key calendar periods--February-March; late April-May; and August-September--when consumers tend to make most of their visits to eye-care practitioners.

While the national campaign netted telephone responses, a corresponding $3 million co-op campaign in 200 DMAs used local cable spots to link consumers to their nearby eye care practitioners. The local campaign used the same 30-second commercials created for national cable, but in place of a toll free number, the spots were tagged with the name and phone number of a local practitioner who could provide CIBA Vision lenses. With exposure on 1100 local systems, CIBA's visibility increased, along with that of the local practitioner in each of the targeted markets, which ranged in size from big cities like Los Angeles to small towns like Macon, Ga., Sanderson says.

CIBA Vision was impressed with the volume of new customers cable delivered, Sanderson says, but equally endearing was cable's ability to add value.

In one case, CIBA Vision teamed two of its strongest advertising vehicles--E! and Self magazine--and created two one-hour shows, Sexy Swimsuits and Celebrity Spas. The specials had a fashion and entertainment emphasis designed to appeal to CIBA Vision's target audience. In another instance, Lifetime produced an educational vignette about contact lenses and featured one of CIBA Vision's staff optometrists as an expert in the field.

"Cable allowed us to more specifically target our message--more finely tuned to the target than broadcast; and quite frankly, cable is a great value," Sanderson says. "Often, with cable you get more than you pay for, and that is rarely, if ever, the case with broadcast."

CIBA Vision's introduction to cable convinced it to build the medium into its future advertising plans. "We found cable networks and operators to be very cooperative, helpful, service oriented and focused on how they could help make our campaign better," Sanderson says. "Those kinds of incremental benefits really have a value--it's very refreshing to deal with a medium that is excited about your business."

This year, CIBA Vision is tripling its national cable advertising budget and doubling its, budget for co-op advertising with local eye, care practitioners. It also plans to expand its target audience to include Hispanics by advertising on Univision and Telemundo. It will beef up its effort to reach men by adding spots on CNN/SI, VH1 and CNN Headline News, networks that will complement its exposure on male-skewing shows on such networks as MTV and Comedy Central.