This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
[[advertisement]] [[image: color photograph of woman in a white dress and ruffle-collared suit jacket]] SASSON Suited for every occasion. Sasson suits. For store nearest you call (212) 354-4311 [[/advertisement]] [[end page]] [[start page]] [[double line]] SPOTLIGHT ON FRED THE FURRIER continued set up the Fur Vault concept, which makes a unique statement. Our marketing vehicle became the evolving, new-type woman: very active, very independent. She buys a fur coat, not to affirm the wealth of the man she's associated with, but to make her own statement. That's a major philosophical difference. We speak directly to women. Our advertising does not imply that a woman is going to look sexy in fur, or pose her in front of a country club with a good-looking guy. We put her into real-life situations ―― going to work, buying a frankfurter, going to the theatre." About a year or so after Mr. Schwartz joined Alexander's, he and his associates felt they needed a different medium to express their product. "Our concept was that buying fur is a very emotional purchase and a very personal experience. We felt that the most emotional way of communicating our message was through TV." Mr. Schwartz credits the advertising firm of Shaw & Koulermos for the creative and unorthodox advertising techniques that changed the course of advertising for the entire fur industry and made him the most famous furrier in New York and probably the world. "It was their idea," he says, "to let me appear in my own commercials. The agency conducted a search for a convincing fur spokesman, but ended up with me. We tried to make the commercials fun. I said that furs were beautiful, warm and fun. One of my slogans――'When a woman is ready for a fur coat, the right one will ask her to dance'――was judged by Dun's Revue as one of 1980's Ten Best." Probably Fred the Furrier's most successful advertising gambit has been the personal, first-name approach――inviting all the Carols, Lindas, Annies, etc., out there to come in for the coat Fred has for them with their name on it. Because of these commercials, the furrier is recognized on [[line]] [[advertisement]] [[image: black and white photograph of woman wearing a jacket and beret, holding a pair of gloves, and leaning on a pedestal]] James Kenrob by DALTON [[/advertisement]]