Specsavers Creative has again teamed up with uber-director, Daniel Kleinman, to produce a hilarious new TV commercial that parodies Lynx’s famous 2006 spot, “Billions”. The campaign brings together two of the most well-known and powerful advertising straplines. It broke on national UK TV on 14th March 2010.

The commercial opens in a way that mimics Lynx’s original: beautiful bikini-clad girls determinedly running in search of a mystery goal. But the Specsavers parody is further developed with shots of the girls running with handbags and shopping bags. They won’t let anything stop them in their tracks – not even a man buried in the sand. When they reach the fragrance-spraying anti-hero, however, they halt in horror as he dons ugly glasses. A title fades up: “The Should’ve Gone to Specsavers Effect”.

After Specsavers’ creative team – Simon Bougourd and Neil Brush – came up with the idea of mixing these two legendary straplines, permission to parody the Lynx commercial and strapline was sought and received from Unilever, who loved the script.

The commercial was shot on location in Columbia using nearly a hundred bikini-clad girls who were multiplied in post production by Framestore.

Specsavers’ creatives, Neil Brush and Simon Bougourd, said: “’The Lynx Effect’ and ‘Should’ve Gone to Specsavers’ are almost polar opposites. We thought it would be fun to mix them together and see what happened. We felt it was an idea that would appeal to Danny (Kleinman) and it was great to work with him and Rattling Stick again.”

Rattling Stick director, Daniel Kleinman, said: “It's interesting to try and satire an already humorous commercial, I wanted to make sure everyone knew which spot we were parodying with a few key shots and then take the mick. Of course, it would never work if the original was not a well known and excellent piece of work.”

Credits:
Project: Specs Effect
Specsavers Client: Richard Holmes, Marketing Director
Airdate: 14th March 2010
Creative Agency: Specsavers Creative
Creative Director: Graham Daldry
Creatives: Simon Bougourd, Neil Brush
Producer: Sam Lock
Prod Co: Rattling Stick
Director: Daniel Kleinman
Prod Co Producer: Johnnie Frankel
Post Production: Framestore
Editor: Steve Gandolfi/Eve Ashwell @ Cut+Run
Audio Post Production: Simon Capes @ Clearcut
Digital Production: Infinite Corridor