SMALL SCREEN SLATED TO GET COMPANY
Byline: Lisa Lockwood
NEW YORK — Company Ellen Tracy will spend a record $10 million on its spring ad campaign, encompassing print, billboards, buses and, for the first time, TV.
From March 3-10, Company — the casual sportswear division of Ellen Tracy — will run six 15-second commercials in New York and Los Angeles on such shows as “Mad About You,” “Entertainment Tonight,” the Barbara Walters pre-Academy Awards show, early and late news programs, “Late Show With David Letterman” and “Tonight.” Each spot will run at the beginning and the end of a commercial break.
The campaign, which features model Meghan Douglas, contrasts introspective moments with those involving the pleasures of having “company.” One image, for example, singles out Douglas, and the second shows her with friends or family. Each scenario is identified with copy, such as “One’s Memory, One’s Company,” which is set against a carnival background, or “One’s Femininity, One’s Company” on a basketball court.
“We’re trying to show all the facets of women’s lives,” said Linda Allard, design director of Company and Ellen Tracy. “The ads show the woman in a lot of different situations — relating to her mother, sister, baby and husband or boyfriend.”
In addition to TV, print ads are running as 10-page inserts in the March issues of Vogue and Elle, with follow-up spreads in April in Allure, Marie Claire, W and Interview and a 10-page insert in Vanity Fair. Outdoor venues include billboards in six cities, and giant-size buses in New York.
The campaign was created and produced by Ellen Tracy’s ad agency, Ziccardi & Partners, here.
“We want Company to have a surge in being known,” said Herbert Gallen, chairman of Ellen Tracy, the $250 million bridge sportswear firm, explaining why the budget went from $1.5 million last spring to the current $10 million. He said Company is expected to do two-and-a-half to three times as much business in 1997 as last year, but declined to disclose figures.