Essilor, Luxottica, and VSP Global Form Think About Your Eyes Coalition
By Essilor News
03/17/2010
Dallas - (March 17, 2010) – Today, Essilor, Luxottica Group, and VSP GlobalSM announced the creation of the Think About Your Eyes Coalition. The new coalition will develop a public awareness initiative, launching in the second quarter of 2010, designed to remind Americans about the importance of eye exams, as well as the benefits they can provide to overall health and wellness.
“The Think About Your Eyes Coalition will strive to educate the public about the importance of eye health, which is often overlooked or misunderstood” said Kerry Bradley, President, Luxottica Retail North America. “As vision industry leaders, Essilor, Luxottica and VSP Global decided to join together to embrace this exciting opportunity to combine our efforts to help Americans keep healthy vision top of mind.”
Vision problems and eye disease can occur at any time, regardless of age. Many Americans have an uncorrected visual impairment that can impact their quality of life and lead to other physical and emotional complications. This public awareness initiative will provide insight on specific topics, such as eye disease, eye fitness and children’s vision, to illustrate that good vision care can ultimately improve a person’s ability to learn and have a healthier life.
The public awareness campaign will include components, such as television, radio, online and social media communications, with details to be finalized in the coming months. In addition, The Think About Your Eyes Coalition will launch a consumer-facing Web site to coincide with the campaign.
“Through the Think About Your Eyes Coalition, we will help raise awareness of not only how important comprehensive eye exams are, but also what an important role an eye exam plays in monitoring your
overall health,” said Rob Lynch, CEO of VSP Global. “A primary goal of this coalition will be to highlight all the preventative health benefits that a comprehensive eye exam can deliver, including the detection of
diabetes, high cholesterol and other diseases.”
Wally Lovejoy, Senior Vice President of Eye Care Development for Luxottica Retail, will serve as chairman of the coalition and Ken Stellmacher, Director of Client and Member Marketing for VSP Vision Care, will serve as vice chairman.
Funding for the initiative has been provided through contributions of the coalition members. Industry leaders interested in joining the Think About Your Eyes Coalition should contact Wally Lovejoy at wlovejoy@luxotticaretail.com or 513-765-6340.
“We look forward to other leaders throughout the industry joining the coalition and supporting the important cause we serve,” said John Carrier, President, Essilor of America, Inc. “This is a great opportunity for our industry to spread the positive message of preserving sight and to support the eyecare professionals throughout the United States who help millions see better.”
About Think About Your Eyes
Think About Your Eyes is a multi-million dollar two-year public awareness initiative aimed at increasing consumer awareness of the importance of vision health and comprehensive eye exams. Essilor, Luxottica and VSP Global make up the Think About Your Eyes Coalition and are seeking partners to join in this initiative.
About Essilor
Essilor is the leading manufacturer of optical lenses in the United States and is the market leader in progressive, high-index and anti-reflective coated lenses. A pioneer in the development and production of ophthalmic lenses, Essilor employs more than 9,000 people throughout North America. Essilor manufactures optical lenses under the Varilux®, Crizal®, Thin&Lite®, Xperio™ and DEFINITY® and other Essilor brand names. Essilor Laboratories of America (ELOA) is the largest, and most trusted, optical lab network in the U.S. and offers a wide choice of services and lens brands, including Essilor premium lenses, to eyecare professionals across the nation. Essilor of America, Inc. (Essilor) is a subsidiary of Paris-based Essilor International, S.A., a publicly held company traded on the Euronext Paris stock exchange (Reuters: ESSI.PA).
Essilor, Varilux, Crizal and DEFINITY are registered trademarks and Xperio is a trademarks of Essilor International. Thin&Lite is a registered trademark of Essilor of America, Inc.
About Luxottica
Luxottica Group is a leader in premium fashion, luxury and sports eyewear, with over 6,200 optical and sun retail stores in North America, Asia-Pacific, China, South Africa and Europe and a strong and well balanced brand portfolio. Luxottica’s key house brands include Ray-Ban, the best known sun eyewear brand in the world, Oakley, Vogue, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Arnette and REVO, while license brands include Bvlgari, Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany and Versace. In addition to a global wholesale network covering 130 countries, the Group manages leading retail brands such as LensCrafters and Pearle Vision in North America, OPSM and Laubman & Pank in Australasia, LensCrafters in Greater China and Sunglass Hut globally. The Group’s products are designed and manufactured in six Italy-based manufacturing plants, two wholly-owned plants in China and a sports sunglass production facility in the U.S. In 2009, Luxottica Group posted consolidated net sales of €5.1 billion. Additional information on the Group is available at www.luxottica.com.
About VSP Global
VSP GlobalSM offers world-class products and services to eyecare professionals, employers, and more than 55 million members through a group of leading companies providing comprehensive eyecare coverage, access to cutting-edge frame styles and brands, design of custom interiors and merchandising systems, innovative e- commerce and practice management solutions, and technologically advanced lab services. With the strength and experience of these companies behind it, VSP Global stands apart and delivers benefits, services, products and solutions that are unparalleled in the world-wide optical industry.