The Rise of Specsavers: From Optometrists to Global Success

One of my favourite campaigns of all time is "Should've Gone to Specsavers" an idea that has completely transformed the Specsavers business. I speak to their CMO, Peter Wright and the MD of their in house creative team, Nicola Wardell, about how they've taken the idea and produced some of the best advertising on the System1 database.

Watch the episode on YouTube.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Intro
• 00:59 - How Peter and Nicola ended up on Guernsey
• 03:02 - The Specsavers story
• 04:37 - The secret to Specsavers’ success
• 09:04 - Family owned vs corporate business
• 10:38 - How the “should’ve gone to Specsavers” line was created
• 14:17 - The world’s longest running straplines
• 16:17 - The serious case for humour - Tower Block ad
• 20:18 - Specsavers Vet Ad
• 21:14 - A cross channel idea
• 24:29 - Why Specsavers do all creative in house
• 25:52 - How to attract talent to Guernsey
• 29:23 - Being the client and the agency
• 33:56 - Advice for creating an in-house team
• 34:37 - Wear in vs wear out at Specsavers
• 43:08 - Creating the culture at Specsavers
• 50:14 - Launching the audiology business
• 53:38 - How technology will shape the future of the business
• 56:07 - Peter and Nicola’s proudest work