NEW ‘EYE CATCHING’ CAMPAIGN: LIFE IS CLEARLY BETTER WITH OPTEGRA

Specialist eye hospital group Optegra is launching a new regionally targeted campaign including direct mail, local print and TV to appear across select ITV channels and raise awareness of its NHS cataract surgery options.

Developed by creative agency Kitchen, the main concept visually captures how difficult it is for people suffering with cataracts to engage with the everyday world and through its storyline that Optegra is helping to make patients’ lives “clearly better”.

This is the first time Optegra has run TV advertising around its NHS offering, and as a middle-weight TV campaign, prospective patients are expected to see the advert five-six times over the course of four weeks.

Optegra Marketing Director, James O’Shea, said: “Through striking, attention-grabbing typography our new TV advert will not only highlight the challenges of living with cataracts on a day-to-day basis, but also demonstrate that life can become ‘clearly better’ when you choose to have your treatment with Optegra.

“We want to creatively and emotionally engage with consumers, by stepping into their shoes, visually capturing the hazy world of cataracts and how we can bring clarity back into patients’ lives.”

The new advert launches on 7 October on select ITV 1 regions, running between 9am-7pm Monday-Friday, in key programmes such as Loose Women, This Morning, Pointless and including a hero launch spot on Monday 7^th at 7.28pm immediately before Emmerdale across all regions – collectively this one ad is forecast to reach almost 1m people.

The campaign will capture the eye hospital group’s core credentials; to reassure people about Optegra’s outstanding results, use of premium lenses for NHS surgery, top-rated patient satisfaction and world-renowned surgeons. It will also convey the important message that patients can be seen within just two weeks of referral.

Throughout the UK, the referral process changes across geographical areas. In some regions optometrists and GPs can directly refer patients to Optegra. However, in other areas there is a ‘Single Point of Access’ (SPOA) scheme and patient choice is a relatively new concept in these regions.

The campaign is created for SPOA areas where Optegra has clinics – including Preston, London, Kent and Hampshire – to help people realise what options are available to them. It is ultimately about providing patients choice, getting faster access to their cataract treatment at a location and provider that is most suited to them individually.

James O’Shea continued: “TV is a great medium for us to use to help educate as many patients as possible about their choice for their treatment; delivering trust and credibility to patients who may have a cataract. And of course, as we are all about improving eyesight, this visual moving medium is perfect for us.”

Tim Clyde, Founding Partner at Kitchen, said: “There are lots of reasons why patients should choose Optegra for their cataract treatment, but given the massive amount of marketing messages people are bombarded with on a daily basis, we were keen to stand out and emotionally connect with the target audience of sufferers and their loved ones.

“Of course, making the advertising even harder to read for people with cataracts could be argued to be an interesting solution, but we knew that we really need the ads to stand out and be noticed and the important call to action is always clear for everyone to see.”

Optegra Eye Health Care is a specialist provider of ophthalmic services. Established in 2007, with its first hospital opening in 2008, it has completed over one million eye procedures from its 40 eye hospitals and over 60 locations across the UK, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.

Optegra brings together leading-edge research, medical expertise and state-of-the-art surgical equipment. It performs more than 140,000 treatments annually, both private and publicly funded. Its top ophthalmic surgeons are renowned for their areas of expertise, offering excellent clinical outcomes and great patient service.