Guess Watches launches global model search for `Face of Guess´

William George Shuster, JCK Senior Editor -- JCK Online, 4/14/2003 2:00:00 AM

Guess Watches and Elle magazine are launching the first-ever worldwide model search to select the new face of Guess Watches. The year-long, multimillion-dollar campaign was announced by Guess Watches president and chief executive officer Cindy Livingston and Elle officials on April 4 during the recent 2003 BaselWorld Watch and Jewelry Show.

"This will be the most thorough model search in history," said Livingston. "It will bring the Guess Watches name to every continent of the world, and beautiful women to Guess." The winner will be chosen at BaselWorld 2004, when Guess Watches celebrates its 20th anniversary.

"The Guess Watches and Elle Timeless Beauty International Model Search"--or "Timeless Beauty International Model Search," for short--is the most extensive global ad and marketing program ever created for a single fashion promotion, said Livingston and Elle officials. It will cover 70 countries, involve 100 advertising pages in 35 Elle editions on six continents, regional in-store media events, photo shoots, local and regional model judging, and tie-ins with some 10,000 of Guess´s 30,000 retailers worldwide.

Ads in the September 2004 issue of Elle will kick off the global model search. Applications will be available at Guess Watches retailers and on the Internet. Over the coming year, applicants from regions around the world will be narrowed to 20 quarter-finalists from which Elle editors will pick 10 semi-finalists from each continent at year's end.

Paul Marciano, creative director and the driving force behind the Guess? brand of fashion products, will then pick the 15 global finalists, who will be professionally photographed by their regional Elle editions. After more print and regional events, the new face of Guess Watches will be selected by an international panel of judges during a gala event at BaselWorld 2004. The winner will be featured in all Guess Watch advertising.

Guess Watches, made and distributed by Callanan International, a subsidiary of Timex, were launched in 1983 and are designed to appeal to young, fashion-driven consumers around the globe.

Guess also launched at this year's BaselWorld a new line of jewelry called Touchstones, created by popular London designer and jeweler Stephen Webster. The new line will be sold through retail jewelers, says Livingston.