Foster Grant is reclaiming its roots by bringing back its well-known advertising campaign featuring new brand ambassador, actress Brooke Shields.
Set to hit this fall, the television and print campaign, which was shot this week in Los Angeles by photographer Dave Meyers, will nod to the brand’s history by incorporating the slogan it made famous in the Sixties.
“‘Who’s That Behind Those Foster Grants?’ is one of the most iconic tag lines of all time,” said Shields, who as a teenaged model for Calvin Klein helped popularize another iconic tagline: “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins.”
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The choice of Shields will not only help bring a younger consumer to the brand, but it will also help Foster Grant appeal to a broader international audience, as it looks to deepen its reach beyond the U.S.
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“We looked around and Brooke Shields kept coming up. She was the right age and she’s beautiful,” said Alec Taylor, chief executive officer of Foster Grant. “Brooke is really a modern woman, and she’s a worldwide celebrity.”
Owned by FGX International, a subsidiary of Essilor, Foster Grant might not be a household name with the fashion set, but the brand’s over-the-counter sunglasses and readers are a staple in mass retailers, drug stores and grocery chains.
According to Taylor, FGX, which owns eyewear brands such as Magnivision, Corinne McCormack and Gargoyles, brings in roughly $450 million in sales annually. Carried in retailers such as Target and Duane Reade, Foster Grant is FGX’s largest brand.
Founded in 1919, Foster Grant, which offers glasses priced between $15 and $30, sells about 100 million pairs of readers and sunglasses a year, Taylor estimated.
“Our real mission right now is to grow the brand internationally,” he said, explaining that 15 percent of its revenues come from international sales in markets such as the U.K., Canada and Mexico.
With a focus on expanding in Latin America, Western Europe and Asia, the brand recently opened offices in Milan and in Asia.
“Essilor is a 160-year-old-company with a mission to provide a better life through better sight,” said Eric Thoreux, corporate senior vice president of strategic marketing at Essilor International. “We’ve been working in the last two years to bring more function to the frames by creating foldable readers, for instance. We will also bring more technology to the lenses.”
One hurdle the brand may face in broadening its reach abroad is getting consumers to buy over-the-counter reading glasses, acknowledged Taylor, who explained that they can be viewed as poor quality and somewhat unattractive.
“People are very reluctant to put on over-the-counter glasses,” he said. “But in the last five years, they have become more of a fashion product than they have ever been. Brooke, who is in her mid-to-late forties, will help us get over the stigma.”