Specsavers has taken its iconic ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ platform to new heights. This time the marketing team had a ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ moment due to poor eyesight when creating and dispatching the artwork for the largest OutofHome billboard in the Southern Hemisphere.
Created by Specsavers Creative, the billboard, unveiled this week, features a striking creative mistake that’s impossible to miss. Only a fraction of the iconic ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ tagline and half of the brands green and white ellipse logo are visible on oOh! Media’s iconic Sydney Glebe Island Silos. The site is more than 1,000 square metres and sits on top of 15 heritage-listed silos.
The new billboard follows the success of previous OOH campaigns featuring the well known brand tagline, which have seen media vendors install the Specsavers ads upside down on bus sides and digital in centre panels, or dispatch the wrong ‘welcome to’ destination creative to key airports across Australia, receiving a lot of attention from the public who were eager to notify the brand of the internally intended slip ups.
By making an eyesight blunder, Anri McHugh, head of awareness and consideration at Specsavers said, “we know that attention is the new currency, and nothing cuts through like a well-timed mistake—especially when it’s on a scale this big. By owning our mistakes in our unique tone of voice, we’re not just driving brand fame, we’re reminding Australians that mistakes are easily made if your eyesight is failing, which is a good reminder to Australians of all ages to look after their eye health.”
“We love when brands embrace a bit of cheeky creativity, and Specsavers have done just that. Turning a ‘mistake’ into a giant punchline on the biggest canvas in the Southern Hemisphere is both bold and brilliantly on-brand. This campaign is a perfect reminder that Out of Home is at its best when it captures attention and sparks conversation,” said Josh Gurgiel, head of POLY, oOh!’s creative and innovation hub.
Remona Salem, group director at EssenceMediacom said, “Specsavers is defining and elevating the gold standard for Out-of-Home executions across the industry. I love executing campaigns of this calibre, especially with a visionary brand that demonstrates such a courageous willingness to innovate and strategically leverage Australia’s most iconic platform. This bold approach not only captures widespread attention but also sets a new benchmark for impactful brand engagement.”
The billboard can be viewed from now until October 23 2025.
Credits:
Creative: Specsavers Creative
Media Agency: EssenceMediacom a WPP agencySpecsavers:
Jane Hoban, Trading Director ANZ
Shaun Briggs, Director of Marketing Customer Attraction ANZ
Richard James, Global Creative Director, Specsavers Creative
Anri McHugh, Head of Marketing – Awareness and Consideration ANZ
David Cross, Lead Designer, Creative Hub ANZ
