On the anvil first is the launch of the One-day Acuvue in the next two months. Though details on the product are not being divulged, the one-day contact lens is in the test stage. It will be priced at Rs 1,450 for 30 pairs of lenses.

J&J is also planning to launch Surevue, a monthly lens for the below-premium segment priced at Rs 3,600. It is to be noted that Vistavue a monthly lens is priced at Rs 2,800 for 12 pairs and Acuvue, a 15-days lens is priced at Rs 5,500 for 24 pairs.

The company is also in the process of introducing Acuvue Bi-focals. Targeting the forty-plus population, the lens was launched in the United States six months ago. Says general manager Rahul Patani: ``The forty-plus is a highlyprice in-sensitive market where people would not mind paying a premium for comfortable wear. Hence it is priced at Rs 1,450 per box which contains three pairs. Each pair can be used for 15 days.''

Far-sighted initiatives

To consolidate its existing brands, the company will continue to take the direct marketing route. Says Patani: ``Ours is not a mass product. One in four people require vision correction. So we need to tackle them individually.''

The company recently organised a three-day college campus promotion in Mumbai. Covering 23 top colleges from Churchgate to Mulund, Mumbai, it targeted college students on the very first day of admissions. Says Patani: ``The timing was perfect because that is the formative period when a child can think of shifting from spectacles to lenses. Moreover, it being admission day, we could catch a lot of students with their parents and relatives who could influence their decisions.''

About four vans went from college to college offering free trial coupons tostudents. The company claims to have distributed close to 2,000 coupons, of which 85 translated to actual trials in the first fifteeen days.

During this period the company also ex-panded its database of lens users by asking students to participate in a contest `For Your Eyes Only' which asked students to match the eyes of filmstars with their names. Pertinently, they also had to give the names of four people who used contact lenses.

In the next six months, the company wants to take the college campus promotion scheme across the country. ``The concept would be a mobile van clinic consisting of vision screening equipments and an optometrist who would conduct eye-check ups and give consultation free in all these colleges,'' says Patani. To attract the youth further, the company is also looking for tie-ups with pubs and discos to run similar schemes.

After youth, the company is now targeting office-goers. J&J has already started direct marketing at one company in Mumbai. The employee-care visioncareprogramme for the staff and their family members is being conducted in association with the HR department of the concerned organisation. Members can avail a free trial pair and employees who avail of a six-month supply of Acuvue or one-year supply of Vistavue also get a gift hamper from J&J.

In Calcutta, the company has gone in for an exchange scheme where a consumer can bring in an old pair of contact lenses and get Rs 500 off on Acuvue/Vistavue. For the first time, the company went in for press ads in the city, the adline saying: `For the next 30 days, don't believe your ears, believe your eyes.' While the company is not willing to divulge sales details, it claims that the sales have increased three times on a monthly basis as a result of the scheme.

In the South, the company had earlier launched a money-back guarantee scheme on its disposable contact lenses in March this year. And to create a support system for translating awareness of J&J visioncare products among consumers into sales, or ``action''as Patani puts it, the company has got the endorsement from 450 eye-care practioners in 23 cities across the country. It is planning to double the number by year-end.