Transitions Optical hosted its annual Transitions Championship in Innisbrook, Fla. last month. The week-long PGA Tour golf event, held at the Innisbrook resort, focused on the importance of healthy vision and the critical role vision plays in sports performance and a healthy lifestyle.
The event kicked off with the “Think About Your Eyes Family Walk” benefiting Prevent Blindness Florida on Sunday, March 13, during which participants walked the course the pros play and enjoyed a family barbecue and entertainment for families with children by Radio Disney. New to tournament week this year was the renaming of the former “Live Your Vision Pavilion” to the “Think About Your Eyes Pavilion,” based on Transitions’ affiliation with the Foundation for Eye Health Awareness and its “Think About Your Eyes” campaign. The pavilion, which offered information, education and hands-on experiences including sports-vision demonstrations, meet and greets with the pros, health and wellness screenings and more, was located behind the 18th green in an area called the “Healthy Sight Village.” Other activities within the Healthy Sight Village included the “LensCrafters Kids’ Zone,” featuring complimentary vision screenings and entertainment for children, free books and read-alouds with mobile literacy unit “Bess the Book Bus”; tours of a mobile eye exam clinic called “Eyenstein,” created by Transitions and VSP Vision Care; and the “Competitive Advantage” area developed by Nike, Transitions and VSP, where attendees learned about the impact on vision and putting and received putting makeovers and tips, and participated in putting drills.
Oakley again hosted its “Rolling O” golf experience as well as an Oakley Pro-Am for local club professionals. Callaway had a presence within the Healthy Sight Village, offering demos and sales opportunities for Neox Transitions SolFx in Callaway eyewear and showcasing the new Callaway Razr driver.
Transitions Optical says the tournament benefited over 100 local Tampa Bay area charities. The tournament has made a charitable contribution of more than $25 million in the last 34 years. In addition to the charitable impact, the tournament has contributed more than $19 million to the local economy.
To learn more about how high performance sunglasses can help your golf game, see this month’s L&T cover story, “ Par Excellence.”
INTERCAST LAUNCHES NEW AD CAMPAIGN FOR NXT LENSES
Intercast Europe, a subsidiary of PPG Industries, has recently launched its new advertising campaign for NXT lenses, “The Language of Light.” Professional and consumer brochures, print advertising and a new website, www.nxt-vision.com, are all part of the launch effort. Plans call for the new campaign, which began in September, to run in both Europe and North America and will highlight “Pure Performance and Pure Experience” for all people and all passions while also supporting the full-range of the NXT lens portfolio, including plano and prescription lenses as well as visors for snow goggles.
LYTLE ADDS SALES DUTIES AT SHAMIR
Shamir Insight has promoted Matt Lytle, vice president of marketing, to vice president sales and marketing. He takes over as head of Shamir’s sales force from Lance Bergeron, who has retired from the company after a 40-year optical industry career.
Lytle joined Shamir in 2006 as the vice president of marketing. He has refocused Shamir’s brand identity by updating the company’s marketing message, ad campaigns and website. He has launched several key promotions and programs, including Shamir’s Autograph II Authenticity program and their Freeform Certification Program. Under Lytle’s direction, Shamir’s in-house marketing team has received several awards for their unique advertising campaigns, including two Hermes Awards, two CEBA Awards and a Davey Award. He has also overseen Shamir’s sales and client services department for the past two years.
In his new role, Lytle will oversee Shamir’s North American sales force, which includes four regional managers, 35 account executives and the educational team.
—Andrew Karp
