Specsavers Audiology chooses Countdown as media vehicle

Specsavers showcases its audiology and home visits services through Countdown quiz show sponsorship

Specsavers has announced its sponsorship of Channel 4’s popular quiz show Countdown to raise awareness of its expertise in audiology and through its home visits service.

The two-year sponsorship, negotiated and bought by MG OMD, starts on 3 February and comes 17 years after the business first sponsored the show.

The Countdown sponsorship will begin with an audiology creative, as part of Specsavers’ Lost and Found campaign. This campaign shines a light on Specsavers’ expertise within hearing health. It explains how everyone’s hearing is unique and highlights how hearing aids can help people retrieve the sounds they are missing out on.

In typical Specsavers’ style, the campaign includes a suite of humorous Countdown idents, which aim to highlight some of the everyday sounds that people commonly lose through hearing loss. Each ident reveals a sound within jumbled letters on the Countdown board – the correct word unveiled in a similar style to the Countdown conundrum.

There are 51 idents, with each show featuring a 15” and 10” film, with 4 x 5” bumpers. Specsavers’ brand voice Rob Brydon uses his wit to boost the entertainment factor.

The Countdown sponsorship starts with the audiology idents but after a period of time, Specsavers will introduce a new suite of idents, to raise awareness of its home visits service, supporting the successful launch of its ‘I Don’t Go’ campaign. These idents will quite literally bring the TV show into people’s homes.

Through its lifeline home visits service, Specsavers offers free comprehensive eye tests at home and in care homes to anyone who is eligible for an NHS eye test, and who cannot leave their house unaccompanied due to a physical or mental illness.

Victoria Clarke, Specsavers’ Marketing Services Director, comments: “This partnership is a perfect fit. People don’t pay as much attention to their ears as they do their eyes, but 1 in 5 people in the UK suffer from hearing loss[1]. This partnership will initially support the recent Specsavers ‘Lost and Found’ audiology campaign, using its recognisable humour to raise awareness of the importance of hearing care before championing our home visits service.”

[1] www. rnid.org.uk/about-us/research-and-policy/facts-and-figures