L’EGGS HONORS WORLD-SHAPING WOMEN
Byline: Marc Karimzadeh
NEW YORK — L’eggs is stepping up to the plate once again to honor four women for their charitable endeavors.
The division of Sara Lee Corp. will unveil its 2001 “L’eggs Honors Women Who Shape Our World” marketing program with an awards presentation and luncheon this Wednesday.
The event’s emcee will be singer and actress Vanessa Williams, who was asked to introduce each of the four honorees.
This year, L’eggs honors La-Verna Fountain, senior adviser of U.S. Programs at Save the Children; Zoe Koplowitz, ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society; Wendy Kopp, founder and president at Teach for America; and Nancy Lublin, founder and director at Dress for Success.
“Women’s and children’s causes are very important to our consumers, retailers and our company,” said Vicki Phelps-Chancellor, vice president of customer marketing and sales for L’eggs products. “By giving back and supporting these causes, we are also supporting our consumers. At L’eggs, we believe that this campaign inspires people to volunteer and help others make a difference and feel good about themselves at the same time.”
The honorees were selected based on their commitment, vision and dedication to making the world better for those in need and raising funds and awareness for their organizations, Phelps said.
This is the second time L’eggs is holding the event. Last year, the company’s honorees included Nancy Brinker of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and Katie Couric of the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance and NBC’s “Today” show anchor.
According to Phelps-Chancellor, the company has so far committed more than $1 million to causes through this program. This year, the firm plans to give $400,000 to a variety of organizations, including those of the honorees.
The program will not just be a celebration of these women’s achievements in their charities, though. For L’eggs, it also will consist of a marketing plan that includes seasonal point-of-purchase display fixtures with header cards pointing to the campaign and featuring an image of each of the honorees. These will start with Zoe Koplowitz in April followed by Nancy Lublin from May to July, Wendy Kopp through September and La-Verna Fountain in the holiday season.
There will also be freestanding inserts in newspapers featuring each honoree and L’eggs has devoted a special page on its Web site, leggs.com, which spotlights each selected woman and gives information on how to get involved with the organizations.
In related news, L’eggs is introducing a new packaging this month. Known for putting its legwear in an unusual egg in the Seventies, the new packaging features an innovative slope design that recloses easily from the top to minimize the chance of tearing. It also offers customers a reusable container to store the pantyhose in. Images on the package include lightning and stars.
This is the second design change since L’eggs started 30 years ago. In 1991, the company changed from the egg-shape package to an eco-friendly paperboard package.
Initially, the new look will appear on the L’eggs Sheer Energy line. Throughout spring, it also will be introduced with L’eggs Silken Mist, Reliance, Sheer Comfort and Day Sheer lines.