Should’ve Gone to Specsavers: Airport

Read the campaign story

Specsavers Canada introduced Airport in March 2024. Created in-house and directed by Declan Lowney, the film placed the brand’s familiar eyesight joke within the pressures of catching a flight. It followed Greg and Ella, a couple separated when Greg parked the car. The situation supplied urgency before the comic payoff.

Greg hurried through the airport, negotiating security and a crowded moving walkway before reaching the tarmac. Ella was already aboard the aircraft. The brand says the film had no dialogue, with shorter edits for television and social channels. Physical action and reactions carried the story.

Editorial interpretation: a long-running brand line can behave like a familiar joke structure. Viewers recognise the type of misunderstanding to expect, but a new setting supplies different obstacles and anticipation. Airport’s travel scenario enlarges the consequences of a small visual mistake without requiring a technical explanation of eye care. This provides a practical alternative to refreshing a brand by discarding its distinctive language: keep the recognisable payoff, then change the dramatic circumstances around it.

The useful test is whether an audience attributes the joke to the advertiser and understands the relevant service, rather than simply enjoying airport slapstick. A dialogue-free format can reduce some language adaptation, but it does not remove differences in humour, accessibility or travel experience. For a healthcare-adjacent retailer, comedy also needs care so that the message encourages an eye examination without making people with impaired sight feel like the target.

Reuse recognised brand elements

List the brand elements that audiences already recognise before inventing a new campaign platform.

Make the visual sequence clear

Storyboard the visual cause and effect so the core joke survives shorter edits and muted viewing.

Test the joke and the service separately

Test brand attribution, service relevance and audience sensitivity separately from whether the film is funny.

A small test for another brief

An appointment-booking service makes a short visual story about a harmless calendar mix-up, then shows its actual confirmation feature resolving it.

Compare correct identification of the feature and completion of a test booking with a straightforward explainer.

Stop if viewers remember the joke but cannot identify the service benefit, or if the joke humiliates people with an impairment.

• List the brand elements that audiences already recognise before inventing a new campaign platform.
• Storyboard the visual cause and effect so the core joke survives shorter edits and muted viewing.
• Agree on one outcome, a reasonable comparison and the stop condition before release.