Between aging Baby Boomers and emerging countries, the $6 billion contact lens market is expected to double in the next five years, and CooperVision has set its sights on a bigger share.
"The
category is going through unprecedented changes," David Srere, co-president/CEO and chief strategy officer at Siegel+Gale, which handled the company's rebranding effort, tells Marketing Daily. "It's
becoming more commoditized, with new channels—you can buy lenses online and at supercenters. That has weakened the connection between practitioners and lens wearers. And lenses are more than a
medical choice now, they're also a lifestyle decision—they can change your eyes from brown to green. So we knew we needed to tell a different story."
Part of the problem is that
CooperVision, No. 3 in the market, didn't have much of a story, he says. While the company markets a full range of lenses, it's best known for fitting those with astigmatism, presbyopia and ocular
dryness, and claims to have the most complete collection of spherical, toric and multifocal products available. "So it's been inaccurately seen as a niche player, and outshouted by brands like
Johnson & Johnson's Acuvue, Ciba-Geigy and Bausch & Lomb."