As a brand that openly admits it’s not directly relevant to individuals day to day, Specsavers’ social media and digital marketing aims and challenges are slightly different to the norm but no less important.
Lisa Hale, head of consumer PR, social media and brand activation at Specsavers, approaches digital content and marketing more like a science: “It’s so much more powerful than just being a vehicle to push a sale – it’s about how brands can live in a person’s psyche.”
Specsavers’ main aim is to disrupt and hold people’s attention – one of the best examples of this is the “van stuck on a bollard stunt” by the company’s in-house creative team that went viral earlier this year.
For many, the iconic “Should’ve gone to Specsavers” TV ads are at the forefront of their mind when they think of the company, alongside the brand’s trusted and authoritative persona.
But how can the brand capture the attention and the custom of the next generation, who haven’t grown up with those ads in the same way, especially in the era of constant social media scroll?
Key takeaways
- Specsavers has 364K Facebook followers, 164K TikTok followers, 79K X followers and 57K Instagram followers
- Lisa Hale, head of consumer PR, social media and brand activation at Specsavers, tells CORQ the most important metric she measures is attention
- On social media, the company’s main aims are to disrupt, reach new audiences and change people’s perception
- Specsavers also utilises influencer marketing and prioritises micro-creators for sincere engagement when high trust levels are most vital
- Some of the brand’s recent standout campaigns include Rick Astley’s Misheard Version, Harry Redknapp’s Best Worst Team YouTube series and the “van stuck on a bollard” stunt
- Looking to the future, Hale says the gaming industry presents huge untapped potential and Specsavers can’t afford to be afraid of artificial intelligence (AI) and the opportunities it presents
Social media strategy
Hale joined Specsavers five years ago and tells CORQ that at the time there was little strategy behind the company’s social media content. Her first responsibilities included setting up a dedicated socials team and identifying what could be achieved through social media and what their main aims should be.
She also worked to implement a team that has autonomy to act quickly when it comes to responding to trends and posting on social.
“We have a team working all day to spot opportunities and react to them. If it leans into what we consider to be a ‘dangeous’ area then it is flagged for approval but you have to be able to trust your team and your agencies in order to succeed in this area.”
As well as in-house teams, Hale oversees agencies Tangerine and Golin, which fulfil Specsavers’ social media and PR roles.
“I would never put follower numbers as a success metric,” she says. “We’re looking to reach new audiences or change people’s perception. The main metric that we measure is attention, which is unusual.
“We’re not relevant day to day and people don’t follow us for inspiration like they would a fashion brand, so we needed to work out how to hold at least ten seconds of attention from an audience that is already seeing 10,000 ads a day and has learned to just swipe away. This informed our research with attention scientists Lumen.”
Specsavers’ core audience is aged 35-plus so Meta’s social media platforms are the main focus, with TikTok also utilised to reach a younger demographic. Additional platforms such as Snapchat or Pinterest are used more on a case-by-case basis.
The company has four key content pillars: care for all; advancement for the benefit of all; expertise tailored to individuals; and “should’ve gone to Specsavers” (more comedic and reactive).
“Anything culture-led or that makes you feel something tends to work best for our social content,” Hale says. “It’s about either adding value to an existing conversation or adding value to that person’s social media usage.
“We don’t tend to be led by what other brands are doing. Our online persona is warm, knowledgeable and down to earth, as well as that British sense of humour that you can see in the ‘should’ve gone to Specsavers’ ads.”
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Successful campaigns explained
One of the team’s biggest successes was winning two Grand Prix awards at Cannes Lion 2024 for the Rick Astley Misheard Version campaign to promote its hearing loss services.
“Rick Astley is relevant to both Millennials and Gen Z,” Hale explains. “We ‘rickrolled’ his audience and he wrote the new ‘misheard’ lyrics so it was a really collaborative effort, which helped it feel as authentic as possible.”
The campaign increased hearing test bookings by 1,220% above target. Another initiative that saw great success was Best Worst Team, a YouTube series about helping the “worst grassroots football team in the country”, featuring former football manager Harry Redknapp.
“We were looking for a way to move from the TV ads to where we could reach a new audience and grassroots football made sense for us because sport relies on good sight and hearing,” she says.
“We teamed up with COPA90 for it and we’re entering our third season of it now so we’re at the stage of thinking how can we make it bigger and better? It absolutely took off and we saw a 15% incremental reach over and above our traditional advertising with a fraction of the media spend.”
These campaigns are both good examples of the way Specsavers approaches influencer marketing. First the team identifies the aim of an initiative and the target audience, and this then leads them to the best creator to work with.
“If the brief is to raise awareness of a topic, it’s best to work with a big influencer,” Hale says. “If it’s to change perceptions, it’s more useful to work with a micro-influencer – someone with high trust levels, whose engagement is higher and more sincere.”
Future opportunities
Going forward, Hale believes content about a brand as an employer will become more important. Specsavers is currently trialling individual shops having their own TikTok accounts and employees being able to create content (following set guidelines and also being monitored) as the faces of the brand.
In addition, the “huge” gaming world presents untapped potential for Specsavers because all of its target audiences are there and it fits nicely with the content pillars – “Sight and hearing also give you an advantage in gaming.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) presents plenty of opportunities as well. “We’re already using it for things like customers trying on glasses virtually but we’re now considering our options in terms of content creation,” Hale says.
“We’ve produced lots of content with AI and now we need to review it because we need to be open to progress – we can’t be scared of it.”
By Lauren Harris, CORQ editor. Picture credit: Specsavers
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