Market Wise

This is the time of year your mail box carries numerous requests from charitable organizations seeking your donation.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
cards calendars biz 88 2 (photo credit: )
cards calendars biz 88 2
(photo credit: )
THIS IS the time of year your mail box carries numerous requests from charitable organizations seeking your donation. Alut, the Israel Society for Autistic Children, would rather give you something in return for your money. That's a good marketing tool because in addition to proving that they don't want something for nothing, they're making sure you will remember them if you buy one of the wall calendars or several of the greeting cards produced by autistic young people. Greeting cards are NIS 5 each, and come down to NIS 3 if you buy in bulk - e.g. a package of a thousand cards. Calendars start out at NIS 50 but the price is also reduced for large volume purchases. Proceeds from the sales will go towards attending to the needs of youngsters who are being treated in the Alut facilities in which they live in many parts of the country. To order cards and calendars, call (03) 571-8188 or (053) 312-0732. RENUAR, WHICH produces clothes for men and women has introduced a new $500,000 campaign slogan "Reunar the Fashion Way," which will be featured in the company's television, radio, Internet and catalogue campaign for Fall/Winter 2007/2008. The campaign goes into operation in September and is being run by the Naphtali-Avraham Advertising Agency for the sixth successive season. The new collection also includes accessories. Established in 1993 by Yossi Brosh and Eli Berkovitch, Renuar now operates 45 stores for women and 35 Renuar Men stores. NOT SO long ago, conventional wisdom decreed that diamonds were a girl's best friend - but according to contemporary fashion mavens, a girl's best friends for the year ahead will be the jeans in her closet Fashion manufacturers are going all out in the jeans department; in fact, Castro, which is forever expanding its range and its markets, has come out with a new label - Castro Jeans. After considerable research and development the company's fashion gurus decided that it's not only the customer who's right, it's the customer's body. Shape is a very personal thing, and it doesn't matter how well a pair of jeans may be cut and sewn, or how good the quality of the fabric may be, if it doesn't fit, it won't sell. With this as its guideline, Castro Jeans is aiming for perfect fit and has produced a broad range of styles, each with its own code name. The concept is simple: the customer finds a pair of basic jeans that fit her perfectly, takes note of the name and then goes in search of something a little bit fancier, but with the same name. There are many variations on a theme from which to choose. The idea is for each woman to find her particular cut, which becomes her password to jeans fashions. CASTRO ISN'T the only jeans-conscious company. Bianco Jeans did so well in its 60 points of sale on the local market that it decided to invest $800,000 in opening showrooms in New York, Melbourne, Barcelona and Milan so it could show its extensive range of jeans to wholesale buyers from all over the world. The Melbourne showroom, which opened only a month ago, has sparked enormous interest and generated a huge volume of orders from fashion stores throughout the city. On the local scene, the Bianco Jeans campaign for Fall/Winter 2007-2008 will be headed by actress and model Yamit Sol. Bianco specializes in highly detailed jeans that sit well regardless of the shape because the lycra content in the fabric makes for sufficient flexibility for the jeans to adapt to the contours of the body. A FEE in the range of $100,000 was a good enough reason for actress Ayelet Zorer who lives in Los Angeles to come home and head Tara's YOU campaign, which is due to hit television screens in September with the object of persuading more women to include yogurt in their diets. The JWT Advertising Agency is handling the account. ISRAEL RAILWAYS, together with The Road Safety Authority, has invested some NIS 2 million in a campaign to increase public awareness of the dangers of ignoring safety signals at railway crossings. The message is that even if you don't see it or hear it, if the red light is flashing, the train is moving in your direction and you should not try to cross the tracks. The campaign is running on television and radio. CELLCOM CEO Amos Shapira is not your usual boss and is known for doing things out of the box. He seems to be ready for anything including starring in the company's new commercial, which is featured on the Internet. The idea is to convince young people starting out in the adult world that Cellcom is a good place to work.