Specsavers is a chain of British opticians and its "Should've Gone to Specsavers" advertising is one of the most famous in the UK.

Specsavers ads have always featured people making hilarious mistakes due to their bad eyesight.

As part of a wider campaign to mark the 20th anniversary of this iconic brand platform, we were briefed to create impactful, memorable Out of Home work that would encapsulate the "Should've Gone to Specsavers" idea and be loved by the public.

• ‘Billboard Blunder’ - 265 New North Road, Islington. This site was a pre-existing 48s billboard and was located between Shoreditch, Essex Road and the Angel. It was within walking distance to the prestigious Canonbury Square and the popular Marquess Tavern, The Old Queen's Head and The Little Angel Theatre. It was 1 mile away from the nearest Specsavers store.

• ‘Lost Ladder’ - 46 Camden High Street, Camden. This site was a mural wall facing pedestrians walking towards Mornington Crescent tube, away from the Lock and Camden Town tube stations. A popular area, this site was 0.2 miles away from the nearest Specsavers store.

• ‘Dodgy Install’ - 14 Eldon Terrace, Leeds. This site was a mural wall, - close to Leeds Arts University. Another popular area, this site was 0.8 miles away from the nearest Specsavers store.

We hand-selected these high-footfall locations due to their high dwell times.

• ‘Billboard Blunder’ A billboard was fitted to the mural wall with the backboard distressed to make it look like an authentic, existing billboard. White matt vinyl was used to create a paper effect inside the billboard, which also spread onto the wall below.

• ‘Dodgy Install’ Vinyl was also ‘pasted’ over the ladder and a drainpipe to the left and a steaming boiler pipe above to create added drama and amusement.

• ‘Lost Ladder’ The vinyl was carefully moulded into the rungs of the ladder to create a visually pleasing effect, with the bucket and pasting brush hanging to the side.

Live from 4/3/22 - 27/3/22, the campaign lives on through gained social media and press coverage. The brand is so thrilled with the response to its first “Should’ve Gone to Specsavers” campaign in two years, that they are working on something similar in the future.

Truly encapsulating the meaning of “Should’ve Gone to Specsavers,” the billboards were a viral sensation. Within hours of being posted organically by the public, they picked up tens of thousands of likes and shares on social media.

A post of ‘Billboard Blunder’ was shared almost instantly by a Leeds Arts University student, amassing 25,000 likes and 1million+ impressions.

The campaign has also earned itself a Campaign Mag ‘Pick of the Week,’ with the article quoting, “Now, putting aside the question of whether eyesight alone could really have been the problem with particular posting mishaps, they brought some cheer into the Campaign offices."

Matt Mint, Executive Director, MGOMD said, “A creative platform like ‘Should’ve’ is a media planners dream, and through our partnership with Specsavers and The Agency we’ve extended the concept of “Should’ve” moments into the media formats themselves, creating a fun and engaging campaign that everyone can enjoy.”