Avoid Unexpected Surprises with Specsavers Temporary Rebrand

A bold new campaign from Specsavers, launching this week, aims to raise the profile of its audiology services and cement its position as the go-to brand for better hearing care in the UK and Ireland as well as eyecare.

For six weeks, starting today, the brand will be renamed as ‘Specsandhearingsavers’. In the typical Specsavers style, the humorous campaign pokes fun at the fact that, although the brand’s expertise lies in hearing as well as eyecare, and had done for the past 20 years, this isn’t reflected through its original name. While by rebranding as ‘Specsandhearingsavers’ does make this clear, there is no hiding the fact that it’s a mouthful, so the campaign plays up the fact that the original name may well be a whole lot catchier.

The integrated campaign spans TV, VOD, radio, OOH, press, digital and social, with different tongue-in-cheek creative activations for each channel.

On TV and cinema, the campaign re-runs one of Specsavers best performing ads, that tells the story of a calamitous hearing-related mishap at an Arctic outpost. The spot takes Specsavers’ famous sense of humour into the world of hearing.

Striking special-build OOH locations dramatise the cumbersome ‘new name’ by having ‘Specsandhearingsavers’ run off the edge of the canvas. The press ads emphasise that while the new name doesn’t quite work, it does highlight the brands rich heritage and the fact that they didn’t know they’d be market leaders in hearing when they set out over forty years ago. The brand now has twenty years of audiology experience.

For earned media a builder will be filmed at one of the Specsavers stores attempting to replace a Specsavers storefront sign with the new logo. However, the logo is so long it doesn't fit and very obviously overhangs onto the neighbouring store, so can’t be fitted.

Paul Chuckle from Chuckle Brothers will be at the stunt event and will record and share self-shot footage across his social channels.

Nick Rainbow, head of audiology marketing UK/Ireland said, “For too long our hearing services have been our best kept secret, it’s time more people knew that we’ve over 1,000 businesses across the UK and Ireland that can help get your hearing checked and get you hearing more clearly.”

Richard James, global creative director at Specsavers, added, “While this campaign is another fun activation from Specsavers, it also plays back to a deeper manifestation of our brand purpose - changing lives through better sight and hearing. With 40% of the UK adult population now admitting having an issue with hearing, as the world becomes louder, we want to ensure that everyone across UK and Ireland knows where to go for expertise in hearing.”