Going to the opticians isn’t a particularly thrilling experience nor is it one that should captivate a nation yet through 20 years of genius marketing campaigns Specsavers have embedded themselves into the national psyche with their tagline taking a life of its own.

Many British people often proclaim ‘should’ve gone to Specsavers’ after any comedic incident emanating from a lack of vision but how have we got the point where a pretty unexciting brand has spawned a national catchphrase.

In 2002, an advertising director by the name of Graham Daldry incorporated the line ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ into one of his campaigns for the chain of opticians – completely unaware that it would take on a life of its own.

Since then, there have been many iterations of the ‘Should’ve Gone To Specsavers’ advert but with all centred around a similar theme – somebody makes a foolish mistake that could’ve been prevented by better eyesight that they should’ve gone to SpecSavers about.

To commemorate 20 years of the iconic tagline, Specsavers paired the now traditional adverts with a very clever billboard campaign that highlighted why people should go to Specsavers.

A plethora of consciously crafted billboard mistakes attracted yet more attention to the ubiquitous catchphrase and led to the brand gaining further traction on social media – something Specsavers has now started to focus on.

Like so many contemporary brands, Specsavers have carved out a personality for their social media accounts beyond just promoting their products to sharing opinions on topical issues within the brand ideals and the idea of ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’.

This canny social media effort is mostly centred around witty responses and latching onto popular memes with the hope of spreading the branding of the bastion of British eye care around further.

However, after twenty years of touting ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ and multitudinous variations of that phrase the latest advertising campaign from the eyecare company omits the legendary tagline.

Instead, the company has focussed on its little known business model through which its optometrists own the stores they operate in with a similar approach to John Lewis & Partners working on the premise that if someone owns part of the business they will work harder for it.

Although the tagline has been dropped for the latest campaign, ‘should’ve gone to Specsavers’ is intrinsic to the business and probably a key part of how it retains its position of market leader.

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