Specsavers pens six-figure deal with Evening Standard owner to trumpet fashion credentials
Specsavers has penned a six-figure deal with Evening Standard owner ESI Media that will see it push out content touting its fashion credentials in London.
The eight-month deal covers the breadth of the media owner’s portfolio, including the daily newspaper’s site and TV channel London Live. It builds on the ties from last year that saw the opticians run competitions to win new frames and eye tests as well as sponsored articles on fashionable eyewear.
The tie-up, which was brokered by Manning Gottlieb OMD, is overseen by the Evening Standard’s fashion editor Karen Dacre who will curate three Specsavers-branded print supplements and all content on the paper’s new online shopping hub.
Specsavers’ in-house frame stylist will work alongside Dacre and the rest of the paper’s fashion and lifestyle editors to create additional content, including a video series packed with celebrity interviews and styling tips that will sit on the shopping site and also air on London Live.
Fiona Stevenson, regional marketing manager at Specsavers, said: “At Specsavers, finding the right frames to suit our customers’ lifestyle is just as important as the expertise we offer. This campaign, with its multiple touchpoints and the Standard’s dedicated audience, gives us the perfect opportunity to showcase Specsavers as a fashion-forward brand in an engaging way, bringing us closer to our consumers than ever before.”
Fashion has been a lucrative money spinner for ESI Media with the business dedicating a channel to it last year to increase the value of those readers to advertisers.
Dan Locke, group partnership director, ESI Media, said: “We have a very strong offering for fashion-focused readers and brands in both our print and online products. We launched the successful fashion and beauty channel on Standard.co.uk last year which is dedicated to keeping audiences up to date with the latest trends, and it’s great to be able to use our strength and experience in this area to help Specsavers further build their reputation as a stylish and on-trend brand.”
The move comes ahead of a revamp of all ESI Media’s sites that it expects to lift the value of how much it charges for ads due to user experience and subsequently viewability being enhanced.