‘Should’ve Gone to Specsavers’ is a campaign built on visual humor, highlighting the mistakes people make due to poor vision. In 2024, TBWA\Melbourne needed to develop a fresh execution that would resonate with modern audiences while preserving the simplicity and wit that have defined the platform for 17 years (23 globally).

The new global AV campaign centered on a sight gag set at an airport—leaving one traveler a little frazzled and missing the correct departure gate.

Now, the task was to support this new campaign beyond TV.

The challenge was to live up to the past success of ‘Should’ve Gone to Specsavers’ ads, which have been both culturally iconic and commercially successful, while building on the campaign’s legacy in a fresh and engaging way.

Rather than extend the same ‘wrong gate’ airport sight gag into a ‘matching luggage’ OOH execution (pun intended), TBWA\Melbourne set out to give travelers their own ‘Should’ve Gone to Specsavers’ moment at the airport.

Baggage carousels and airport exit signage don’t usually attract global media attention or go viral on social media—but this campaign did.

In a fresh twist on Specsavers’ long-running brand platform, domestic air travelers in Australia were greeted on arrival with way-finding signage welcoming them to the wrong city—like ‘Welcome to Melbourne’ in Sydney.

This playful misdirect simulated the feeling of making a vision-related mistake, sparking global conversation, amplifying the campaign’s reach far beyond traditional media, and contributing to all-time high brand consideration levels.