November 20, 2010
Marketing 201
Promotion Strategies Ray-Ban in the 20th century has been able to prove its ability to maintain parallelism between its products and the century’s style determined by the American Culture. A decade breakdown will prove this parallelism successful. In the 1930’s to the 1940’s the Aviator style was introduced, perfectly complementing the number of social phenomenon pertaining to this decade. There was a dramatic increase in interest for aviation and all the machines and technological advances that came with it. One of the most influential publicity acts the brand experienced for men, was when General Douglas McArthur[1] landed his military plane at the World War II base in the Philippines sporting a newly released pair of Aviator sunglasses. The famous picture of the General wearing his general’s hat, smoking a tobacco pipe and the Ray-Ban Aviator Sunglasses really pushed Aviator’s, as well as Ray-Ban, over the top. These sunglasses became part of the highly respected pilots’ equipment. The men confided in the Aviator’s fine quality and protection against optical harm .Women were also added into this look group when one of times most famous female aviator, Amelia Earhart, was also spotted with a pair of Ray-Ban’s Aviators. During the next decades, the world was bouncing back from the terrible times of war. The population had seen and experienced enough suffering allowing only growth and happiness to take place. The economy was progressing to a point where people were forgetting their sorrows and only concentrating on all the heroes which were coming home. Women were also gaining from this growth by increasing their rights. They could finally work. This time had become filled with enjoyment, glamour, color, and rock’n’roll[2]. With this change in era, Ray-Ban needed to keep on top of their game and follow the present trends. Ray-Ban began offering a vast range of colorful frames to go along with the clothing
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