Challenge

As technologies develop and digital devices become more integrated into our everyday lives, people are spending more and more time looking at their mobile phones, televisions and computer screens. For students, it is estimated that approximately one-third will use a school-issued mobile device during the academic year. Studies have shown that excessive use of these devices can lead to long-term damage in vision and performance. Because of this, MyEyeDr. sought a platform to bring awareness to this growing issue so parents could encourage their students to practice healthy digital device usage and avoid preventable vision problems.

Many times, parents are completely unaware that poor academic performance can be linked to undiagnosed vision issues. As a tie-in to back-to-school season, MyEyeDr. tapped Largemouth to help drive appointments before the first bell to detect any outstanding vision problems and ensure a successful academic year for students. 

Ideas

To help increase scheduled appointments, Largemouth devised a media relations strategy to leverage the momentum of back-to-school season to encourage parents to schedule their child’s annual eye exam at their local MyEyeDr. location. The thought leadership campaign focused on academic performance and how it can suffer from vision-related issues, specifically tying in the increased usage of digital devices within the academic and personal lives of students. Key messages for the MyEyeDr. campaign aligned trends across the health, technology and educational spaces. Largemouth worked to position local MyEyeDr. optometrists as experts in eye care and digital eye health through media relations and social media strategies and created new conversations for the brand, furthering its position as a thought-leader within the vision industry.

Largemouth drew on its relationships with print, online and broadcast media across the MyEyeDr. footprint to secure media interviews leading up to the first day of school, promoting the importance and urgency of scheduling annual eye exams in advance of the new school year.

From a social media perspective, Largemouth developed an online quiz titled “What’s Your Back-to-School Style?” to offer style advice to students. This advice focused on helping students choose the perfect pair of glasses and also raise awareness of the risks associated with increased digital device usage. The quiz included three questions for fans to answer and provided glasses recommendations to educate them on their specific vision needs. At the end of the contest, one lucky respondent received a free pair of sunglasses from MyEyeDr.

Throughout the contest, Largemouth engaged with key influencers on social media, including posts to their applicable Facebook pages, proactive tweets and mentions in MyEyeDr. posts. Targets for outreach included health reporters and deal bloggers. In addition, Largemouth utilized the #B2S and #GlassesB4Classes hashtags to expand engagement across all parties involved in prepping for the back-to-school season.