Market Wise

It's a teeny weeny floral print bikini, but Pilpel is spending an unprecedented NIS 3m. on its marketing campaign.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
pilpel biz 88 298 (photo credit: Courtesy photo)
pilpel biz 88 298
(photo credit: Courtesy photo)
DIVERSIFICATION IS the name of the game for many business enterprises. Chains that may have once carried only one or two particular categories of merchandise have been adding until eventually a decision is made to take some items out of the collective and give them an identity of their own. The latest move in this direction is by Golf, which today launches a chain of shoe stores. Golf has successfully combined fashion with fashion accessories and with housewares, but has now decided to let the shoes walk on their own. This seems to be part of a growing trend; Castro has also opened separate shoe and accessories stores. TEN FULLY furnished Spider-Man and Bratz kids' bedrooms will be given away in lottery draws that are the focal points of a new campaign by Toys 'R' Us. The bedrooms are valued at NIS 6,500 each and eligibility to participate in the lottery is contingent on purchases of at least NIS 99 from any store in the chain. Investment in the campaign is NIS 500,000. MADANOT, WHICH specializes in frozen baked goods is renewing its frozen pizza campaign and is spending around $600,000 to tell television viewers that its brand of frozen pizza is as good as anything you can get out of a pizza parlor. The commercial, which takes a humorous look at preconceived notions about Israelis of Iranian background, was so popular the first time around that the company sees no reason to make a new one. IT'S A teeny weeny floral print bikini, but Pilpel is spending an unprecedented NIS 3 million on its marketing campaign. Pilpel, designed for the young at heart and young in age, is the brand name that propelled Yael Bar Zohar to fame and fortune when she was busty adolescent. Heading the current campaign is actress Adi Himmelblau. In addition to advertising, the campaign will include a number of sizzling beach parties, which is one of the reasons that the budget has been expanded. TARGETING ISRAEL'S industrial and business community for membership in the Australia, Israel, New Zealand & Oceania Chamber of Commerce, Paul Israel, executive director of the chamber, has put together an attractive, well-illustrated e-mail package outlining the chamber's activities and successes and inviting people to join, or in an appreciable number of cases to renew their memberships. For many Israeli companies, Australia has proven to be a valuable gateway to Asia. THE DIGITAL revolution has affected almost everything in our lives. The latest is a new lifestyle Web site launched by Microsoft Israel and accessible via www.microsoft.com/israel/lifestyle. Surfers with a digital bent will be able to keep abreast of new digital developments in the fields of television, cinema, music, games, photography, communications and efficiency. THE WHIMSICAL fashion label Frau Blau is named for the great-grandmother of Tel Aviv-based fashion designer Helena Blaustein, who chose it as much as an act of homage as with tongue in cheek. Her great grandmother was a leading seamstress in Odessa, and the gift remained in the genes. What Blaustein didn't know when she chose the name was that Frau Blau in German slang means tipsy lady. When she found out, it amused her because trend-wise, she doesn't walk a straight line. In Blaustein's book, fashion should be fun and her designs and styling are filled with humor and whimsy. She and her significant other Philippe Blau fill her store on Tel Aviv's HaHashmal Street with a diverse assortment of ethnic and period-inspired designs. Their recently released poster-style catalogue looks more like a marketing tool for an art gallery than for a fashion enterprise, although it could just as easily be a campaign for a hair-dresser considering that the model submitted to at least eight different hair styles. If clever marketing is supposed to arouse curiosity, the poster passed the test.