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Thread: Dear Optical Companies

  1. #1
    Pomposity! Spexvet's Avatar
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    Dear Optical Companies

    Dear Optical Companies

    Take all of your "certificates of authenticities" and throw them in the trash. Use the money you spent on them to market directly to the consumer.

    PS name your product something that consumers can spell and say. I don't carry "Cristall". It's a vodka, not an anti-reflective coating.

    While you're at it, get together and decide what diameter screws you want to use, then use that diameter for ALL the screws in your frame. And decide if you want Phillips head or not.

    And another thing: be consistent with your drop amount. 6mm, 4, 2 0, just decide and make them all the same.


    Anything bothering you?
    ...Just ask me...

  2. #2
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter Judy Canty's Avatar
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    Actually, Cristal is a champagne and please don't get me started...I'm looking at you from the other side of the table.

  3. #3
    Pomposity! Spexvet's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CuriousCat View Post
    Actually, Cristal is a champagne and please don't get me started...I'm looking at you from the other side of the table.
    And Cristall is a vodka. http://www.wallywine.com/p-38508-cri...iliateid=10098
    ...Just ask me...

  4. #4
    Eyes eastward... Uilleann's Avatar
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    Uhhh...wait a tick. Aren't Transitions®, Varilux® and Crizal® just about the only ones who actually are marketing directly to the end user? I can't remember the last time I ever caught a Shamir, Hoya or private lab make a commercial or put together a radio spot. :hammer::cheers:

  5. #5
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter Judy Canty's Avatar
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    Why on earth do we want them marketing directly to the consumer anyway?

  6. #6
    Master OptiBoarder
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    Dear Optical Companies:

    I just tried to replace a frame for a patient, who needed a part only, but decided that they would just treat themselves to the "whole" frame.
    Guess what?
    Riiiight!
    The lenses were too small for the "new" frame! Now,..... how does that fit into your "statistics" about sales. They bought the part only.

    a happy optician:angry:

  7. #7
    Eyes eastward... Uilleann's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CuriousCat View Post
    Why on earth do we want them marketing directly to the consumer anyway?
    Brand awareness has always played a huge part in business. If the branding didn't matter, we wouldn't need the copyright and trademark processes. For anyone trying to grow your own practice - you're creating and marketing your own "brand" to your end users just as much.

    Why on earth would you do that?:cheers:

  8. #8
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter Judy Canty's Avatar
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    I suppose that's the difference between envisioning your practice as a "brand" or a "house of brands".

  9. #9
    Eyes eastward... Uilleann's Avatar
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    Like it or not - we all are using other manufacturers brands. It's ubiquitous in our world. Our profession is no different than any other.

  10. #10
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter Judy Canty's Avatar
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    True, however if the direct to consumer marketing says that their product is the "one and only best new thing you must have" and it's available from the local 500 ECP's, how do you differentiate yourself from them. What I'm attempting to say, and obviously not very well, is that your practice can be the brand or you can sell someone else's brand, just like everyone else.

  11. #11
    Eyes eastward... Uilleann's Avatar
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    You can always try to do both. But in this particular case, it's extremely hard to see how the new Crizal awareness campaign can be anything but beneficial to the spectacle wearing public. I, for one, would love to see much greater emphasis put out by all the rest of the players in the optical world to do the same with their respective products as well.

    Cheers!

  12. #12
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter Judy Canty's Avatar
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    There's a Toyota ad running on the local TV networks. Their premise is that "if it's just as good as a Toyota, why not buy the Toyota?" So...if it's just as good as Crizal.....? I think it reduces the ECPs credibility in recommending alternative comparable products. I won't argue the merits of high end AR brands, but there is more than one available.

  13. #13
    Eyes eastward... Uilleann's Avatar
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    Ack - whoever wrote THAT ad should revisit their marketing classes! :) I believe it's true that there are many very good quality products available for the modern ECP. But many (most?) on the consumer end of things don't appear to know, understand, nor care about their options when it comes to quality eyewear. Any sort of awareness is helpful in this scenario I believe. Would you agree?

  14. #14
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter Judy Canty's Avatar
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    I really want to agree, but I'm not sure that good Toyota advertising is going to make me better informed about cars in general. It just tells me about the wonderfulness of Toyota. Perhaps that's why car dealerships often carry and advertise more than one brand.

    The real challenge is getting the public to understand that there are choices. That's why I believe strongly in creating your own practice identity, or "brand".

  15. #15
    Eyes eastward... Uilleann's Avatar
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    Choices are certainly good - within reason. How many times have we heard someone utterly overwhelmed at the frame boards exclaim "I wish you didn't have so many frames! Why don't you pick a few you think look good." If you inundate the average optical patient with hundreds of lens design, material, AR, photochromic, and fabrication technique options, they're as likely to run away screaming as they are to purchase a pair of glasses from their friendly neighborhood dispensary.

    And again, in this particular case, Crizal is the one doing the advertising. Like them or don't, Crizal is the name of the dog in this particular fight. That gives an end consumer one more thing to think about (and in this day of Google) perhaps do a little bit of looking into how they can better their own vision and lens durability with their next pair of glasses. That's a fair move in the right direction as I see it.

  16. #16
    Master OptiBoarder optical24/7's Avatar
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    *Any* advertising of eye wear/ eyecare is always a good thing for our industry. Even if the ad is from your compitition, it brings up little "reminders" to the general public.

  17. #17
    Rochester Optical WFruit's Avatar
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    The first thing I thought was "A lens vendor should not be an ECP's competition."

    Also, spexvet, I'm stealling your soapbox.
    There are rules. Knowing those are easy. There are exceptions to the rules. Knowing those are easy. Knowing when to use them is slightly less easy. There are exceptions to the exceptions. Knowing those is a little more tricky, and know when to use those is even more so. Our industry is FULL of all of the above.

  18. #18
    Eyes eastward... Uilleann's Avatar
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    Except that Crizal isn't a lens vendor. To split hairs, it's your choice to offer Crizal or any other A/R you see fit. If you like them - great! If you don't - no sweat! Do whatever you want, with whatever product you want. The goal and the hope of this campaign was and remains awareness of AR lenses (Crizal of course in this case). Perhaps you are able to dispense a greater percentage of AR jobs now, benefiting everyone, because several of your clients are now more aware of AR than they were before. Can't fault Crizal for that.

  19. #19
    Independent Owner kcount's Avatar
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    In the end do you sell the widget or the service?
    • Optician
    • Frame Maker/Designer
    • Teacher of the art of crafting handmade eyewear.

  20. #20
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter Judy Canty's Avatar
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    You sell the service, because that's your area of expertise.

  21. #21
    Rochester Optical WFruit's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Uilleann View Post
    Except that Crizal isn't a lens vendor. To split hairs, it's your choice to offer Crizal or any other A/R you see fit. If you like them - great! If you don't - no sweat! Do whatever you want, with whatever product you want. The goal and the hope of this campaign was and remains awareness of AR lenses (Crizal of course in this case). Perhaps you are able to dispense a greater percentage of AR jobs now, benefiting everyone, because several of your clients are now more aware of AR than they were before. Can't fault Crizal for that.
    Well, no, but they are made by a specific lens vendor. Crizal is a brand. So, do you sell A/R or do you sell Crizal? Let me ask this (I'm pretty sure I already know the answer), how many independent labs do Crizal in house?

    Do you buy Kleenex or tissues? Band-Aids or adhesive bandages? Rollerblades or in-line skates? At what point does a brand replace a product?

    I agree that more people wearing A/R lenses is, in general, a good thing. The patient gets better vision, and everyone else down the line makes more money. However, as someone above me pointed out, it's hard to say, "no, we don't carry that brand, but we carry something similar." I shudder to think how often patients come in asking for Varilux when all they want is a progressive. Sure they're decent progressives, but there are others out there that are just as good, if not better, and at least half of the time cost less.

    Just wait till Essilor launches their Xperio advertising campain.....
    There are rules. Knowing those are easy. There are exceptions to the rules. Knowing those are easy. Knowing when to use them is slightly less easy. There are exceptions to the exceptions. Knowing those is a little more tricky, and know when to use those is even more so. Our industry is FULL of all of the above.

  22. #22
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter Judy Canty's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Uilleann View Post
    Except that Crizal isn't a lens vendor.
    Since when? Check their availabilities, very few non-Essilor products are compatible.

  23. #23
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    I thought it was craze all.

  24. #24
    Eyes eastward... Uilleann's Avatar
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    Again - it sounds like the proper tree that needs barked up is from individual manufacturers that provide the specific products you want to use and highlight in your practices. Asking them why they are not utilizing their own abilities to promote their own brands and lines to the public should be the priority. If you don't like Crizal - again - don't use it. Pretty simple. The argument about other products being "better", or "costing less" is extremely subjective and the debate will clearly run till the end of time..and has been done ad nauseum here of course.

  25. #25
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Silver Supporter Barry Santini's Avatar
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    Guys, guys....has anyone else besides me actually taken a look at the Crizal website, from the perspective of an ecp?
    I have.
    And I'm sad to report that the ecp locator works like s***!
    if you type in your zipcode, not so bad
    If you use your city and state, the finder, it spits out a randomly sorted group of practices- without regard for geographic proximity.
    When i spoke to people at E, i was told that the website is managed in France, and that everyone has to wait for the bugs that creep up to be attended to.

    Sure, the ecp finder *only* affects us.
    Who cares?
    B

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