Australian ad campaign sways consumers

August 8, 2018 Staff reporters

Optometry Australia claims its flagship consumer awareness campaign, Good vision for life, has influenced more than 2.3 million Australians to make an appointment since its launch in September 2016.

A recent consumer survey revealed 1.3 million Australians 18 years and over were influenced by the campaign to make an appointment with an optometrist compared to 1.07 million in 2017. Simultaneously the number of Australians who would now see an optometrist first for a range of eye conditions has also increased.

Talking to Optometry Australia’s own online magazine, national campaigns manager Trinity Scarf said the two-year-old campaign is continuing to hit its mark among consumers and members alike.

“Awareness campaigns are designed to foster understanding and create habits, so it is pleasing to see this upward trend reflected in the results of the consumer survey,” she said. “When asked to rate the need for Optometry Australia to educate consumers about the role of optometrists and the need for regular eye examinations, 84.4% of members said it was ‘very important’, 74% of our members were aware of the campaign, and 70% rated the campaign as either ‘somewhat valuable’ or ‘very valuable’ to their business,” she added.

Free-to-air radio remained a core channel for the campaign’s second year, expanding into streaming via Spotify and iHeart Radio. While the budget didn’t stretch to TV advertising, Scarf said a robust in-cinema and digital channel video strategy was used. “Digital activities which have been core to the campaign from the outset, such as YouTube and digital, display and social media advertising, all remained steady in year two,” she said. “The ability to constantly tweak and maximise performance via these channels also saw strong year-on-year growth in reach.”

Optometry Australia says it is encouraged by these strong campaign results and is focused on continuing to grow awareness and change consumer behaviour in the year ahead.