Regular eye checks are an essential part of the healthcare routines for people of all ages because vision is a constantly changing aspect of our lives. Changes to eye health can happen gradually so symptoms are easy to miss, but a regular eye test can help detect problems at an early stage, reducing the risk of permanent damage to your eyes.

Despite this, optometrists in Australia and New Zealand had a real problem motivating people to get a regular eye test, a task that was seen as time-consuming and intrusive. Many people were ignoring, or unaware, of any problems with their eyes.

So Specsavers had to come up with an easy and entertaining way to get people thinking about their vision and actually wanting to test their sight.

On average, people spend 3,431 hours watching screens every year. Yet millions of people weren't willing to spend 15 minutes getting screened for any eye health issues. So Specsavers created a way to test people's vision using the screens they stare at every day.

We gamified a 30-second online video by concealing over 15 errors within it. People were encouraged to spot errors for a chance to win a cash prize, with the video made available on a microsite where it could be watched on repeat. If no errors were spotted, they were directed to book an eye-test online with the professionals.

Our strategic insight: people today are reluctant to get an eye test, but they spend countless hours watching screens; from TV to computers, to phones. So that’s precisely where we placed our innovative eye check – cleverly concealed in a commercial. This new phenomenon of dual screen consumption presented an opportunity to test viewers and entertain them at the same time. So in an era when people’s attention spans are mere seconds long, we compelled people to engage with their eye health for more than four minutes, across TV and mobile.

This campaign ran over 4 weeks, starting with the release of the TV commercial in both Australia and New Zealand on all major stations and catch up TV. Viewers were then directed to another edit placed on a microsite that allowed repeat viewing and provided the entry location for our competition. People were also directed to make a simple online booking for an eye check. A winner was announced each week of the campaign.

Another edit was placed on Facebook so people could share errors they found with others in the comment section. Users who commented that they were struggling to spot any errors were replied to with a message and link to book a Specsavers eye test online.

Hint and clue videos were released on social media weeks 2 and 3 to point out errors many people were missing, encouraging them to look again and continue to play.

In total, over 3 million Australians and New Zealander viewed the eye test across TV and online. The video was shared and viewed worldwide. The 30-second online video had an average view time of four minutes, demonstrating high engagement and making it an ad people actually wanted to watch on repeat. More importantly, eye test bookings increased by 12%. Meaning having healthy sight was back in the minds of everyday Australians.