To raise awareness of children’s eye health and improve the vision of children across Australia, optical retailer OPSM has released Penny the Pirate – the world’s first free children’s book and app, which is already getting global attention for its innovative thinking – winning four Lions at the Lions Health and Cannes Lions Festival 2014 this week.

Penny the Pirate was initially trailed with great success through OPSM’s official charity, OneSight, which saw the book screen the eyes of over 300 children. Mums across Australia also tested the book and app and ahead of its national launch through Yahoo7’s Mouths of Mum network.

Following this successful trial the 360 degree Penny the Pirate campaign kicks off next week with cinema activity across the country from the 26^th of June during school holidays sessions and a 15 and 30-second TVC that will run on free-to-air TV from the 29^th of June. Other elements include; a robust digital and social spend targeting parents of 3-10 year olds, visual merchandising displays in-store, a PR campaign and experiential activations in Westfield centres.

Penny the Pirate was brought to life in consultation with the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Designed for children aged 3-10 years old, Penny the Pirate combines the art of storytelling with eye care in a fun and interactive way.

In order to make this as appealing as possible, OPSM partnered with Kevin Waldron, acclaimed author/illustrator to create an engaging story that integrates the eye screenings into the story.

The book is creating industry buzz with Penny the Pirate winning the News Corp’s ‘We’re For Igniting Creative Ideas’ competition and was awarded with $250,000 of media to support the campaign.It has also won four Lions – two Bronze and two silver at the Lions Health and Cannes Lions Festival 2014 in categories; Direct, Mobile and Health.

Melinda Spencer, VP of Marketing for OPSM states: “We are thrilled about winning four Cannes Lions for this campaign – we have worked in development with our agency Saatchi & Saatchi for over eighteen months on this exciting innovative project. We passionately wanted to create a useful tool that helps time poor parents to screen their children’s vision from the comfort of their own home – either through the book or through the app in a fun way and are overjoyed that it has been recognised internationally.”

Saatchi and Saatchi Sydney Creative Directors Matt Gilmour and Jon Burden are also delighted with the win. “Creating Penny the Pirate was an amazing experience as we knew it was an industry first. Working with OPSM’s optometrists on the children’s book to ensure the screenings were correct as well as developing an engaging story for children with Kevin Waldron was unlike any other campaign we’ve worked on” says Matt.

Penny the Pirate is available free from OPSM stores nationally. Alternatively it is available to download for free at the App store and Google Play, where registered users will be delivered the essential accompanying kit which includes an eye patch, spyglass and 3D glasses.

Visit http://www.opsm.com.au/penny for more information.

Agencies involved in creating Penny the Pirate:

Creative: Saatchi and Saatchi Sydney

Media: OMD

Digital: SapientNitro Sydney

App: Two Bulls

Activations: One Green Bean

PR and social media: One Green Bean

TV Production Company: 8 The Production Company