Ace & TateBright Idea?

Selling sunglasses without a lens or frame in sight

For one of the most exciting eyewear brands in Europe, a sunglasses campaign with… no sunglasses. Instead, ads for Ace & Tate’s Spring Summer 2022 collection featured people squinting from the sunlight – evoking a universal feeling that highlights a need for a product, instead of the product itself – as part of a wider strategic reframe.
As one of the most disruptive, pioneering, and successful eyewear brands on the European market since launching eight years ago, Ace & Tate found itself at a turning point and gearing up for substantial growth. What started as a request for a campaign evolved into a full brand and communications strategy refresh in close collaboration with the in-house creative team. This process crystallized what the brand was all about. It drew out the essential, stripped away the unnecessary, and laid steady and unequivocal foundations for the next stage of its evolution.
The goal was to remind customers that Ace & Tate is unconventional and daring; smart and out-of-the-box in everything it does, from eyewear design and production to retail experience and communications. Maturing the brand’s strong existing culture also involved bringing out its innate Dutch-ness – straightforward and resourceful – and its focus on sustainability.
Armed with this renewed brand positioning and attitude, a striking two-part campaign for Spring Summer 2022 was devised to convey Ace & Tate’s unique approach and cheeky/sunny personality.
Part one of the campaign riffed on a universal feeling: being dazzled by the sun. Models were photographed by Martina Bjorn squinting in bright light, in desperate need of sunglasses. A campaign for shades without showing any sunglasses was a bold move, but the 'by subtraction' approach evoked rather than showed, underscoring a universal need instead of simply presenting the product as a traditional brand would do.
For the second part, the eyewear collection was photographed on the same models, using a strong zoom to first draw attention to the models’ expressions and second on the frames themselves. It was revealed just weeks after the first, to an audience whose attention and gaze were already captive. Apparently, it worked. The weekend after the initial launch brought the second-best sales day of Ace & Tate history, and the campaign has been featured in multiple creative publications as well as all over social media.

For one of the most exciting eyewear brands in Europe, a sunglasses campaign with… no sunglasses. Instead, ads for Ace & Tate’s Spring Summer 2022 collection featured people squinting from the sunlight – evoking a universal feeling that highlights a need for a product, instead of the product itself – as part of a wider strategic reframe.

As one of the most disruptive, pioneering, and successful eyewear brands on the European market since launching eight years ago, Ace & Tate found itself at a turning point and gearing up for substantial growth. What started as a request for a campaign evolved into a full brand and communications strategy refresh in close collaboration with the in-house creative team. This process crystallized what the brand was all about. It drew out the essential, stripped away the unnecessary, and laid steady and unequivocal foundations for the next stage of its evolution.

The goal was to remind customers that Ace & Tate is unconventional and daring; smart and out-of-the-box in everything it does, from eyewear design and production to retail experience and communications. Maturing the brand’s strong existing culture also involved bringing out its innate Dutch-ness – straightforward and resourceful – and its focus on sustainability.

Armed with this renewed brand positioning and attitude, a striking two-part campaign for Spring Summer 2022 was devised to convey Ace & Tate’s unique approach and cheeky/sunny personality.

Part one of the campaign riffed on a universal feeling: being dazzled by the sun. Models were photographed by Martina Bjorn squinting in bright light, in desperate need of sunglasses. A campaign for shades without showing any sunglasses was a bold move, but the 'by subtraction' approach evoked rather than showed, underscoring a universal need instead of simply presenting the product as a traditional brand would do.

For the second part, the eyewear collection was photographed on the same models, using a strong zoom to first draw attention to the models’ expressions and second on the frames themselves. It was revealed just weeks after the first, to an audience whose attention and gaze were already captive. Apparently, it worked. The weekend after the initial launch brought the second-best sales day of Ace & Tate history, and the campaign has been featured in multiple creative publications as well as all over social media.