Having already taken out the 2024 Grand Prix at the inaugural Australian Outdoor Media Association Creative Awards in April, TBWA\Melbourne’s ‘Welcome to Melbourne’ campaign for Specsavers has now also won the Classic Creative Award at the World Out Of Home WOOH’s Annual Congress in Mexico City.
Specsavers' Welcome to Melbourne message at Sydney airport was designed to ensure a second look for anxious travellers
Elizabeth McIntyre, CEO of the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) in Australia accepted the award for Specsavers in Mexico, saying “Australia is widely recognised as a world-leader in audience measurement but this shows off Australia’s 
OMA CEO Elizabeth McIntyre creativity on a global scale too.”
The ad shows the simple message Welcome to Melbourne on a giant billboard above the luggage carousel….in Sydney airport!!, albeit accompanied by the now entrenched slogan: ‘Should have gone to Specsavers’. Dino Burbidge, Jury Chair for the Awards added: “The campaign is a behavioural science masterpiece, leaving the audience in confused limbo for a few seconds - with maybe even a hint of panic - before the aha! penny drops. It’s a brilliant example of how OOH can blend simplicity, creativity and location to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts.”
Specsavers dominate OOH with their creative and innovative takes on utilising both classic and digital billboards in unusual and site-specific ways. Awarding their creative achievement, lead creatives Tom Badge and Alana Wood from TBWA\Melbourne received a trip to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025 this month, including return airfares, accommodation in central Cannes and full festival passes.
