Find the funny side / As Golin’s Alex Wood points out, the use of humour in this campaign helps quell people’s fears about hearing loss. While hearing loss can certainly lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness, this preventative campaign tackles the topic with warmth and levity to engage its target audience in their ear health and overcome barriers to people seeking help. And by partnering with Gyles Brandreth – a recognisable older figure who openly shares his own discovery of hearing loss – Specsavers humanises the issue further, giving hearing loss a friendly face.
‘Eggcorns’ (itself an ‘eggcorn’ for the word ‘acorn’) are a fun and familiar route into the topic of hearing loss – everyone has either said or heard at least one of the phrases in Specsavers’ Misheard Manifesto. This universality makes hearing loss relatable, rather than embarrassing or isolating, while the phrases themselves are conversation starters, conducive to high engagement and organic reach. ‘The conversation around “hearing loss” is focused on ageing and serious decline,’ Wood told Contagious earlier this year. ‘Unsurprisingly, no one wants to hear about it. But “mishearing” is considered everyday and universal… We can all relate to mishearing something; often with humorous results. We loved the idea of leaning into this humour and switching the tone of the issue.’
Build on a brand platform / The Misheard Manifesto is a strong follow-up to The Misheard Version, which picked up two Grands Prix at Cannes Lions this year. While that campaign played on the fact that Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ is one of the most commonly misheard songs, this one delves deeper into the more casual, everyday ways mishearing can impact us. Both campaigns are part of Specsavers’ multi-year creative strategic platform to raise awareness of its audiology services, as Lisa Hale, head of consumer PR, social media and brand activation, told Contagious in an interview in January 2024. ‘We have a challenge of coming across as a glasses supermarket chain, when in fact our stores are locally owned and run by experts… Awareness of our hearing care services is still low in comparison to our eye care offering… People also just don’t know about the importance of prioritising their hearing health.’ As we explore in our Specsavers Brand Spotlight, these campaigns are examples of the brand’s evolution from sight-based gags to warm and humorous stories that showcase its healthcare credentials.
