With the vision correction industry estimated to reach over$100 billion by 2026 in North America alone, Daniel Gulick, Insights Engineer, TVSquared, explores the path to purchase for the glasses and contact lens industry via TV marketing.
With celebrities from Kylie Minogue to Drew Barrymore endorsing their own designer eyewear lines, wearing glasses doesn’t have the “stigma” it once had. In fact, eyewear is just one part of a vision-care industry estimated to reach more than $100 billion by 2026 in North America alone.
Demand for vision correction is growing due to major demographic and lifestyle changes. And aging population has brought a rise in conditions such as cataracts and glaucoma, as well as Computer Vision Syndrome, a condition suffered by three-quarters of screen-based employees due to increased computer use. Small screens on smartphones and tablets have also led to short-sightedness – especially among younger generations – with one expert predicting a “tsunami of myopia”.
While the vision-care industry is growing, it is also increasingly competitive, with new brands, products and services continually entering the space. Marketers in this industry must work hard to put their brand in front of the right people, and TV advertising is still proven to be the most effective channel for cutting through the clutter and bringing their message into view.
The Power of TV
With 75% of U.S. adults wearing glasses or contact lenses on a regular basis, vision-care brands should make reach their number-one priority, and TV provides audiences at large. An eMarketer forecast revealed the average American watches around four hours of TV a day. But these TV audiences aren’t just en masse, they are diverse and cross-generational, meaning brands can use TV to drive different types of response, both offline and online.
The traditional route of purchasing vision-care products offline is still popular, especially among older generations. Many people want to try on glasses or have the fit of their contact lenses checked by a professional. For these people, TV is an effective medium for creating awareness and recall, ensuring a brand is top-of-mind when they need vision products. TV also inspires local search activity, which can drive viewers into physical stores. According to Google, more than three-quarters of people who conduct local searches on their smartphones visit businesses within 24 hours, with almost 30% of searches resulting in purchases.
While offline shopping still prevails, ordering vision-care products online is becoming increasingly common among those brought up in a world of ecommerce. Buying online is seen to deliver better value, and younger audiences enjoy the choice of styles available on the internet. Consumers are increasingly asking opticians for prescriptions that can be used to order glasses and contact lenses from online retailers. For this group, TV advertising can drive direct response in the form of search activity, site visits or mobile in-app engagement.
A “Clear View” to Campaign Effectiveness
To maximize the effectiveness of TV campaigns, vision-care brands must be able to measure their short- and long-term impact. This means leveraging data analytics to understand which TV spots are generating the greatest response and to continuously optimize the campaign for performance.
With this level of understanding, vision-care brands can improve the efficiency of campaigns by up to 80%, making in-flight changes to days, times, networks, programs, genres or creatives. They can also use the insights gained to predict how TV investments will perform in the future, creating successful strategies to target new and existing customers.
Even without the latest celebrity eyewear, the value of TV advertising to vision-care brands is crystal clear. With its large, cross-generational audience, TV is an effective driver of both offline and online response. As long as brands measure and optimize their TV campaigns effectively, they can stay a step ahead in a competitive market.
By Daniel Gulick
Insights Engineer