The new deal is the third time Clinique has partnered with and is part of a major brand awareness drive, supporting the launch of two new products in Clinique's cosmetic range for 2003.
Kicking off this month, the first activity sees Clinique sponsoring Handbag's dedicated Cannes Film Festival feature content, and supports the launch of Colour Surge, the new addition to Clinique's lipstick range. The second month of activity in June will support the unique men's range, Clinique's Skin Supplies for Men, with sponsorship of Handbag's Father's Day editorial content.
Clinique's Cannes sponsorship will comprise an integrated promotional campaign themed around the film festival and will include: an advertorial; sponsorship of Handbag.com's bi-weekly newsletter; a pop-up product gallery; and banner and pop-up advertising.
According to Caroline Duvillard, corporate online manager for Clinique: "I am a firm believer in the strength of the internet as a branding medium and Handbag.com is the ideal media partner for us. Our target audience matches Handbag's perfectly and our previous campaigns on the site have been a great success, delivering excellent and immediate results."
Clinique's sponsorship of Handbag.com's Father's Day content sees the brand promoting its men's range for the first time with an online media owner. The promotion includes a themed product pop-up gallery, an advertorial full of gift ideas and banner advertising.
Alicen Stenner, brand director at Handbag.com, said: "As the market-leading premium cosmetic beauty brand, Clinique is the perfect partner for Handbag.com and its audience, and the relationship is testament to the strength of our brand and relevance of our readership."
The Clinique deal comes as Hangbag.com achieved its highest audience figures to date with an ABCe audit for March 2003 of 651,261 unique users with traffic increasing to more than 18m page impressions a month.
"Last month, we recorded our highest ever audience figures, further reinforcing our position as a core media choice for women aged 25-45, and explaining why leading beauty brands like Clinique continue to select Handbag.com," Stenner said.
Handbag.com is a 50/50 joint venture between Boots the Chemist and Hollinger Telegraph New Media.
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