Case study – Objective: Prompt action
Did you know that every six minutes in the UK someone begins to lose their eyesight? What’s more, despite over half of sight loss cases being entirely avoidable, research from the RNIB and Specsavers found that millions of people were not getting their eyes tested every two years. This insight led to the creation of ‘Don’t Lose the Picture’, which addressed the great lack of awareness about the importance of getting an eye check, not only to tackle the loss of a person’s sight, but for its potential to identify diseases such as diabetes.
The challenge for Manning Gottlieb OMD and Specsavers was how to get the public to seriously consider the threat of sight loss. Their solution? Create an ad, then take away its creative and leave a blank space to make people realise the impact of the loss of sight. The Sun was chosen to carry the campaign message due to its reach and the fact that the paper has the highest image to copy ratio and therefore, would have the largest impact on its audience if this imagery was removed. The partnership included a unique cover wrap with no imagery, not even a masthead, to really strike a chord with its audience.
The results showed an increase in sales and sight tests across all Specsavers stores, with a year on year increase of 164% in tests. Research found that over three quarters of people who recalled The Sun’s cover, acted because of it.
The winner of the best newspaper category won for a range of reasons – but particularly for its blend of creative and media usage – the campaign was so disruptive and impactful and although it was multimedia, the role of newspapers in delivering the significant business results was very clear
Olivia Hendrick, Marketing Director, Hiscox
