Brand Expansion & Loyalty

As Director of Marketing and Growth Initiatives at Cole National Corporation, a Cleveland-based company operating third party Optical locations, Things Remembered engraving stores and the Cole Key Shops at Sears, the optical locations were experiencing a downtrend in patient traffic. In turn, the Optometrists were scheduling less hours and without their medical recommendations’ product sales were also in decline. To garner more support from the Optometrists and to break the cycle of using price discounts to lure traffic, I led the creation of National Eye Exam Month at Sears Optical. The campaign provided free eye exams to all patients, helped fill the Optometrists’ exam books, and included a $1 donation per exam to the National Society to Prevent Blindness.

The net results: Optometrist exam books were filled far beyond the campaign, medical recommendations propelled product sales, and over $200,000 was raised the first year for the NSPB. The promotion over the years has enjoyed much success with patients returning yearly for eye exams. In fact, National Eye Exam Month has been adopted as a national event by many eye-care and related medical providers.