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CHENNAI, May 3

EYE-CARE major Bausch & Lomb, in association with Hindustan Lever's Fair & Lovely, has unveiled a marketing initiative branded `Confidence, Contacts & Me'.

According to Mr V. Natarajan, National Sales Manager, Bausch & Lomb Eyecare (I), Pvt Ltd, the first phase of the two-phase campaign will run in 15 cities across the country for a period of 21 days from the date of launch in each city.

In the first phase of the campaign, which has already been launched in Pune, New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai, customers who visit outlets that stock the company's contact lenses can try Bausch & Lomb lenses free of charge. Those customers who decide to buy a pair of the company's contact lenses during this period will receive gifts including Fair & Lovely's `under-eye' cream, contact lens cleaning solutions and so on, Mr Natarajan said.

The company will promote this initiative through banners and handouts in busy places such as shopping malls and also through point-of-sale material, he added.

Mr Natarajan said that the second phase of the `Confidence, Contacts & Me' campaign will be held in close to 60 cities and will offer customers the option of obtaining a Rs 400 discount on a pair of soft contact lenses by simply handing in a pair of used spectacles. Through these efforts, the company hopes to create greater awareness of contact lenses and induce more trials, Mr Natarajan added.

Most of the company's promotional activities in the country are centred on creating greater awareness of the need for vision care, Mr Natarajan said. As a part of this effort, the company is focusing on increasing the level of awareness among school and college students, he said, adding that eye camps have already been organised in schools and colleges across 100 cities.

In a related effort, the company has been instrumental in the establishment of an NGO for the dissemination of information on vision care, Mr Natarajan said. Called, VIEW (Vision Improvement Experts Working Council), the organisation draws on the experience and participation of 14 leading ophthalmologists and optometrists from around the country, he added.

The organisation conducts eye-screening camps in schools and also instructs primary school teachers in the detection of vision-related problems among students in primary classes, he said.

Mr Natarajan said the company has also played an active role in addressing the shortage of trained optometrists in the country by establishing a school of optometry in Hyderabad. Set up with a Rs 5-crore investment, the institute is a partnership between the company and the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute in the city. The four-year course offers students the option of earning a degree from BITS Pilani, Mr Natarajan added.

The company, which started operations in India in 1992, has two lines of business in the country — vision care and surgical products. According to Mr Natarajan, the company, which has over 30 distributors across the country, is the largest player in the vision care market, with a turnover of approximately Rs 70 crore.

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