The Naturalizer division of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE: BWS) today unveiled its Spring ad campaign, "Grab Life By The Straps," with its bold, sexy, black-and-white images of models playing with shoes. The campaign is the genius of "re-imaging guru" Sam Shahid and fashion photographer Bruce Weber.
The new creative appears in multi-page spreads in the April issues of Vanity Fair, Harpers Bazaar and Elle, and May issues of Elle, In Style, Interview, Shuz, and Maria Claire and Martha Stewart Living. It also will be seen in brand focus shops of major department stores in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle.
Brown Shoe hired Shahid & Co. last Fall in a move to attract younger, style-savvy consumers to its redesigned Naturalizer women's footwear collection. Shahid partnered with Weber to photograph the high-impact image campaign. Shahid's first campaign, which debuted in August 1999, injected attitude and fun into the 72-year-old brand, and helped increase Naturalizer Fall sales at major department stores by 24 percent.
For this Spring campaign, Shahid, who re-imaged Banana Republic and Abercrombie & Fitch, and Weber, known for his sensual Calvin Klein photos, decided to snap top models having fun in the sun with great looking shoes .. and great looking guys.
"There is such romance and sex appeal to these shoes that we didn't need to give the models much direction," said Shahid. "We put them in the shoes and amazing things happened. They communicated the unexpected fun of wearing great shoes. Those models were so good looking, almost ageless, that they represent what I feel about Naturalizer shoes -- sexy, modern, totally new and romantic."
"Shahid's first campaign that featured both dogs and models wearing shoes on their heads, compelled younger consumers to stop and look at our redesigned shoes," said Brad Adams, Vice President for Naturalizer. "At the same time, the new identity and product collection brought a fresh perspective to loyal Naturalizer wearers, who seem to really appreciate the new styling."
Style Icon C.Z. Guest is our Guest
Dubbed an "American Style Icon" by Vogue Magazine, New York Socialite CZ Guest, (Mrs. Winston Frederick Churchill Guest) makes a guest appearance in the Spring Naturalizer image campaign.
A longtime friend of photographer Bruce Weber, CZ posed for the camera surrounded by the latest animal-print slides (backless, slide-into shoes) and a bevy of great looking young men. Ads featuring CZ Guest will appear in the New York area as well as in a four-page spread in Vanity Fair.
" CZ is the flip -- a brilliant, great society, fashionable woman," said Shahid. "She loved the shoes and had a great time doing the shoot, especially surrounded by all those flirting guys. "To connect her gardening interests to our theme showing Naturalizer shoes as fun and romantic, we photographed her watering a sleek mid-calf boot and in other greenhouse poses that play with shoes," Shahid said. CZ Guest has her own gardening column that appears in newspapers across the country.
Naturalizer ranks among the best-known brands of women's shoes in the marketplace today. Recognized for its comfort and fit, Naturalizer shoes are available in department stores, Naturalizer's own retail stores, Famous Footwear and other shoe stores.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995: This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These include general economic conditions, competition, consumer apparel and footwear buying trends, and political and economic conditions in Brazil and China, which are significant footwear sourcing countries. The Company's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission contain detailed information relating to such factors.
Brown Shoe is a $1.6 billion footwear company with worldwide operations. The company operates the Famous Footwear and Naturalizer chains of footwear retail stores and markets leading brands including Naturalizer, LifeStride, NightLife, Naturalsport, Buster Brown, and licensed brands including Dr. Scholl's, Barbie and Star Wars character footwear.
No comments:
Post a Comment