Battling entrenched resistance, busting stigma, breaking complacency…These are tough nuts to crack for communicators and advertisers, but they are standard engagement scenes for everyone in audiology, from hearing care professionals trying to convince patients to tackle hearing loss, to makers of hearing instruments urging us to take the first step towards accepting the aid of a hearing instrument.
 
A campaign from the UK retail optics and audiology chain Specsavers is launching this week with a new tone and turn of phrase aimed at making something click in the brains of the millions of people who put up with hearing issues and get by with just about ok hearing.
 
 

Could six weeks of radio, TV, press, outdoor advertising (OOH) and digital displays featuring the message that “OK hearing is not OK” refresh the consciousnesses that other adverts cannot reach? If it does, it will help Specsavers to cement its brand position in the UK/Ireland, and might generally push people to act on their failing hearing.
 

 

 

 

The TV spot takes place in a bustling café, where lots of background noise makes a conversation barely audible; ‘blah blah blah’ is all that can be heard, and this might chime with people who know this experience as part of their daily acceptance of “OK hearing”. The conversation suddenly switches to absolute clarity as a Specsavers voiceover commits to helping people turn these just about OK conversations into good ones.  The radio spot takes a similar approach.
 
 

 
 
 Speech intelligibility is also underlined in the print and OOH side of the campaign, the headline Hear The Whole Story, Not Just The Gist set in bold. “For many people, the fact that they can still get the gist is seen as a reason to not do anything about their hearing,” affirms Specsavers. The Digital display ads place greater emphasis on signposting customers to book a free hearing check.
 
 
 
 
 
“The campaign’s aim is to convey Specsavers’ expertise within audiology and continue to destigmatise consumer associations with hearing loss,” said James Thomas, Specsavers Audiology Trading Director. “OK hearing, or getting the gist of conversations, is not OK and it’s important that people address their hearing issues as soon as possible where they can before their hearing deteriorates further.  With over five million people in the UK and 300,000 people in Ireland actively denying they have a problem with their hearing, we want to make more people feel comfortable to do something about it.”
 
Source: Specsavers