Suntamers will be the company's brand for the new millennium, according to Abhijit Sanyal, vice-president for eyewear business and general sales management of Bausch & Lomb India, a unit of the $2.4 billion Rochester based global eyewear giant. ``Suntamers will create a storm in the sunglass market in the country,'' says Sanyal confidently. Suntamers will be the only product developed and launched in India by the company, with the entire campaign and imagery developed here.

The Suntamers collection comes in a range of five contemporary, energetic and active ranges with 20 styles which include Fugitive Plastic, Fugitive Metal, Vintage Square, Retro and Daddy-O and will be available at 800 Ray-Ban outlets. For the eastern region, where Ray-Ban has a lowpenetration, Suntamers will come in a special price range of Rs 999 to Rs 1990.

B&L, which went for a popular household name after Shah Rukh Khan sported a Ray-Ban in the film Bazigar, has no plans to sport a Bollywood icon in its commercials for Suntamers.

The Attitudinally 25 theme will cover teenagers aspiring to be 25, or 35-year-olds with a flavour for the classic. The A-25 theme will be launched in India simultaneously with the international campaign, Sanyal said.This modern classic range will also see an extension of its brands like Rituals, Blue Ice, Highstreet, Sidestreet, Mookies and Illusions.

In the premium sunglass market worth Rs 90 crore, B&L's Rayban and Killerloop brands enjoy a market share of 55 per cent with the rest being in the grip of the grey market.

Sanyal, who was in Calcutta to conduct a dealer survey, says the company spent Rs 1.7 crore on publicity in the current year and expects to spread out Rs 2 crore in the year 2000. He said the premium sunglass segment inIndia -- price tags of Rs 1,000 plus -- grew at a rate of 12 to 15 per cent in 1998. Ray-Ban enjoys a share of 20 per cent worth over Rs 20 crore.

The A-25 television commercial will feature a vampire which can move about in light with the help of Ray-Ban sunglasses. Sanyal said most Indian sunglass commercials use the beach imagery with lifestyle aspiration, and tout 100 per cent protection from ultra-violet rays.

He said India currently ranks among the top ten eyewear markets in the world, well ahead of China which is one-fourth the size of the Indian market. B&L, which reported a turnover of Rs 66 crore in 1998, sold 300,000 units last year. It hopes to end 1999 with sales of 3,60,000 units.

The company makes its sunglasses at a Rs 30-crore plant at Bhiwadi in Rajasthan. It buys 90 per cent of its raw materials locally, and hopes to become fully indigenous by next year, Sanyal said.