Toolkit for optical professionals, optical industry bodies, patient groups, contact lens retailers and manufacturers

LOVE YOUR LENSES WEEK 23-30 MARCH 2019

loveyourlenses.com

2LOVE YOUR LENSES TOOLKIT

Contact lenses are enjoyed safely and loved by millions of people.Looked after properly, contact lenses are a safe and effective way to correct vision. However, research commissioned by the GOC has indicated the extent to which not all contact lens wearers are consistent in their approach to looking after their lenses and, by not having a check-up at least once a year, one in four contact lens wearers (25%) are losing sight of their optician and the advice they can provide.The Love Your Lenses campaign provides consumer-friendly information and ideas to help optometrists, contact lens opticians, contact lens manufacturers and retailers, and industry partners to celebrate the many benefits of contact lenses while reminding wearers of the need to treat contact lenses with love and respect.The first ever Love Your Lenses Week took place in March 2017 and saw eye care professionals, professional bodies, patient groups, employers and manufacturers across the UK joining forces to remind contact lens wearers of the importance of following aftercare advice.Since the start of the first Love Your Lenses week, information relating to the campaign has been shared over a million times on social media and has resulted in coverage on the BBC website, The Sun and in various regional newspapers.Love Your Lenses Week 2019 will take place on 23-30 March 2018 and is set to be even bigger and better! It is the perfect opportunity to remind your customers, patients, members and partners to ‘love your lenses’!2019 will also provide an opportunity for eye care practitioners to get involved in developing innovative new ways to help to ‘land the message’ about contact lens aftercare more effectively with patients.This toolkit provides content and ideas to help your organisation to get involved with the week. Perhaps you’d like to hold an event in your practice, try out some new ways of delivering aftercare advice or put up some posters to promote conversations about contact lenses during the week? Or maybe you could remind contact lens wearers how to treat lenses with love and respect via a newsletter or social media feed?The information on the following pages is for you to use as you wish to help to encourage more people to love their lenses. If you require further information about Love Your Lenses Week 2019, please email hello@loveyourlenses.com.

Landing The Message 3Key messages 5Logo and campaign identity 6Posters 7Activity ideas 11‘Aftercare Amnesties’ 12Social media content and hashtags 13Website/newsletter copy 14Template press release 15

ONE IN FOUR CONTACT LENS WEARERS (25%) ARE LOSING SIGHT OF THEIR OPTICIAN AND THE ADVICE THEY CAN PROVIDE.

WELCOME TO OUR TOOLKIT

CONTENTS:

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LANDING THE MESSAGE

THE FOCUS OF LOVE YOUR LENSES 2019

Research commissioned by the GOC in 2015 uncovered a significant difference between how much aftercare advice eye care practitioners were reported to be providing, and how many patients recalled receiving it (48%).

In 2018, the GOC carried out a qualitative pilot to explore this gap and to see whether there may be simple ‘interventions’ that can help eye care practitioners to deliver aftercare information in a way that is more readily recalled by patients.

Three ‘interventions’ or ‘tools’ were developed based on insights gathered from existing academic research and behaviour change theory, and following scrutiny from an advisory group comprising of optical industry experts, behavioural science academics and behaviour change specialists.

Wash and dry hands before touching your

eye

Don’t re-use your daily disposable

lenses

Contact lenses and

water don’t mix – don’t

shower or swim whilst

wearing lenses

SIMPLE STEPS TO LOOK

AFTER YOUR LENSESDAILY DISPOSABLE LENS WEARERS3

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SIMPLE STEPS TO LOOK AFTER YOUR LENSESRE-USABLE LENS WEARERS

5 Wash hands and dry before touching your eye1

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5

Rub and rinse reusable lenses

Store your lenses in fresh solution every time

Wipe out the case after each use and replace case each month

Contact lenses and water don’t mix – don’t shower or swim whilst wearing lenses

loveyourlenses.com

What do you enjoy most about wearing contact lenses?What would you miss most if you were ever unable to wear contact lenses?

Did you wash and dry your hands thoroughly before you last put in or removed your contact lenses? Yes   No

Do you wear your contact lenses around water (e.g. in the shower, swimming)? Always  Often Sometimes  Never

If you wear reusable lenses, how do you clean them after removing them from your eyes?

Do you use fresh solution every time you store your lenses? (if applicable)

 Always  Often Sometimes  NeverWhat do you do to keep your lens storage case clean? (if applicable)

PRE-APPOINTMENT QUESTIONNAIREPlease answer the questions below. Your optician/optometrist will discuss your responses with you during your

appointment. Your responses will not be recorded.

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THE INTERVENTIONS 1. Visual aid

2. Pre-appointment questionnaire

3. Lifestyle-based questions

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LANDING THE MESSAGE

The Land The Message report (available on the website) explains more about what the tools are and how they were developed.

The tools have since been tested by a small group of eye care practitioners. Initial feedback suggests the interventions could be helpful in encouraging aftercare information recall as well as in improving patient experience.

COULD YOU HELP THE PROFESSION TO IMPROVE HOW EFFECTIVE WE ARE IN DELIVERING AFTERCARE INFORMATION?

Before and during Love Your Lenses Week 2019, eye care practitioners will be encouraged to get involved with helping to develop further and fine-tune these tools and resources, as well as potentially helping to design new ‘interventions’ that could improve this area of practice.

Further information about the project so far as well as information about how you can get involved is available at: - loveyourlenses.com/land-the-message - or by emailing hello@loveyourlenses.com

LAND THE MESSAGE CHAMPIONS

Dedicate a Land The Message Champion within your practice to take responsibility for training the rest of the team how best to land the message. Training resources and a slide deck will be available via the website.

A pilot project for eye

care practitioners to

increase the effectiveness

of aftercare information

given to contact lens wearers

LAND THE MESSAGE

loveyourlenses.com

twitter.com/yourlenses

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KEY MESSAGES

THE OVER-ARCHING MESSAGE FOR THE CAMPAIGN IS:

LOVE YOUR LENSESTHE LONG-TERM KEY MESSAGE FOR CONTACT LENS WEARERS IS:DON'T LOSE SIGHT OF YOUR OPTICIANIN 2019, THE FOCUS OF ACTIVITY WILL BE ON ENCOURAGING EYE CARE PRACTITIONERS TO HELP TO DEVELOP INNOVATIVE WAYS TO HELP TO ‘LAND THE MESSAGE’ EFFECTIVELY ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING AFTERCARE ADVICE.

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LOGO AND CAMPAIGN IDENTITY

URW Geometric regularUse this weight of font for all body copy

URW Geometric boldUse this weight of font for all bold body copy

This is our logo and our logo versions.

The Love Your Lenses logo can be accessed by emailing hello@loveyourlenses.com and used on any materials you may wish to produce in support of Love Your Lenses Week 2019, such as on balloons, posters or flyers, or in newsletter or website copy.

The General Optical Council grants permission for the Love Your Lenses logo and branding to be used by registrants and optical industry partners solely for activities that are associated with the Love Your Lenses campaign or that are in the spirit of improving compliance with contact lens aftercare advice.

If you require a specific file type, please contact hello@loveyourlenses.com

Full colour

Red and white

Blue and white

White (as shown on blue)

White (as shown on red)

Black

Pantone 206 R206 G0 B55C0 M100 Y50 K0

Pantone 274 R33 G21 B81C100 M100 Y7 K38

Campaign typefaces:

FAT FRANKUSE FOR HEADERS IN UPPERCASE FOR STANDOUT

Headline font

Body copy font

Campaign colours:

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POSTERSThe posters on the following pages can be printed and put up in stores or offices, or distributed to contact lens wearers.

loveyourlenses.com

LOVE YOUR EYES, LOVE YOUR LENSES

Contact lenses are enjoyed safely and loved by millions of people.

But not all contact lens wearers know how to look after their lenses properly.

If you love your eyes, love your lenses. Visit loveyourlenses.com to find out how to

keep your eyes healthy.

Contact lenses are enjoyed safely by millions of people.

But not all contact lens wearers know how to look after their lenses properly.

Always wash hands and dry before touching your eye.

Love your eyes. Love your lenses.loveyourlenses.com

WASH HANDS AND DRY BEFORE TOUCHING

YOUR EYE

11LOVE YOUR LENSES TOOLKIT

Write about the campaign in your newsletter or on your website

Write an article for your local newspaper

Send a letter to remind your contact lens wearing patients about the importance of aftercare

Put up Love Your Lenses posters in stores and workplaces

Produce and hand out Love Your Lenses branded balloons

Produce Love Your Lenses t-shirts or lapel badges for your team

Hold a walk-in eye-health ‘MOT’ event in store

Hold a training event to remind all staff of the importance of contact lens aftercare

Share Love Your Lenses social media content via your organisation’s channels

Try running an Aftercare Amnesty….

IDEAS FOR THE WEEK

TOP 10IDEAS FOR LOVE YOUR LENSES WEEK

Love Your Lenses Week is a great opportunity for your organisation to do something a bit different while also helping to improve compliance with contact lens aftercare. Here are some suggestions for activities that your organisation might like to do:

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1 in 4 contact lens wearers don’t visit an optician for an aftercare appointment at least once a year. Contact lens wearers who have not had their eyes checked for a while can sometimes feel apprehensive and might feel guilty that they’ve not seen their optician for so long.

An Aftercare Amnesty is a fresh start when patients can get their eyes checked without being judged, and can be re-introduced to the importance of following aftercare advice.

Love Your Lenses Week is an ideal time to bring these patients back from the wilderness and get them back in the cycle of regular eye-health checks.

AFTERCARE AMNESTIES

Incentives, discounts and ‘freebies’ are a tried and tested method of attracting new people. There are different ways an Aftercare Amnesty can be run. You might choose one of the following:

Contact existing patients who are

overdue an aftercare appointment

Offer appointments on a specific day of the week at a

discount ratePatients who attend

aftercare appointments are entered into free

prize draw

In the weeks running up to Love Your Lenses week, you can spread the word about your Aftercare Amnesty on social media, via your local newspaper or radio and through window posters in your store.

CONTACTCOUNTS!

SPECIAL OFFERS

FREE PRIZE DRAW

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SOCIAL MEDIADuring the last two Love Your Lenses Week, millions of people saw tweets mentioning the #loveyourlenses hashtag, and information about contact lens safety was shared thousands of times on Facebook.

Throughout Love Your Lenses Week 2019, the Love Your Lenses team will be posting content, such as infographics, images and statistics, relating to the campaign through the Love Your Lenses Twitter and Facebook accounts below.

We would be very grateful if your organisation can follow us on Twitter and Facebook and share and re-post as much of this content as possible. Love Your Lenses week is also a great time to share your own content about contact lenses via social media.

For example, your might like to use your practice’s social media channels to:

- Share infographics relating to the campaign

- Publicise your own Love Your Lenses activity

- Remind contact lens wearers to book an aftercare appointment

SPREAD THE CAMPAIGN

# #LoveYourLenses

@YourLenses

LoveYourLensesUK

14LOVE YOUR LENSES TOOLKIT

GENERIC WEBSITE/ NEWSLETTER COPY

Between 23 and 30 March 2019, [Insert organisation name] will be joining forces with optometrists, contact lens opticians, and contact lens manufacturers and retailers across the UK to celebrate Love Your Lenses Week 2019.

Contact lenses are loved by millions of people and, if looked after properly, they are safe. However, research shows that not all contact lens wearers know how to look after their lenses properly.

Love Your Lenses week is an opportunity to celebrate the many benefits that contact lenses can bring while also reminding wearers of the importance of treating their lenses with love and respect.

The key message for contact lens wearers is: “Don’t lose sight of your optician!”

As well as being a prime time for contact lens wearers to make an aftercare appointment if they’ve not had one in a while, it’s an ideal opportunity for eye care practitioners to remind contact lens wearers about how to get the best out of their contact lenses to ensure happy and healthy lens wear.

During Love Your Lenses Week 2019 why not remind all contact lens wearers of the important message: “Contact lenses and water don’t mix!”

Eye care practitioners can find out more about the campaign and download tools and resources at: loveyourlenses.com

Contact lenses are worn safely and loved by millions of people. However, research shows that not all contact lens wearers know how to look after their lenses properly.

Love Your Lenses Week 2019 is taking place between 23 and 30 March. If you’ve not seen your optician in a while, it’s a prime time to book in an aftercare appointment.

At these appointments, your optician will check that your contact lenses are fitting correctly and that your vision is

good, and will talk to you about the best ways to care for your lenses to make sure your eyes stay healthy.

If you love your eyes, you should love your lenses. As well as cleaning and storing contact lenses properly, there are other steps that should be taken, such as making sure you always wash and dry your hands thoroughly before touching your lenses.

Find out more about how to love your lenses at: loveyourlenses.com

The copy below can be adapted and used by organisations wanting to write about the campaign in their own communications:

1 COPY FOR PROFESSIONAL AUDIENCES

2COPY FOR PUBLIC AUDIENCES

15LOVE YOUR LENSES TOOLKIT

TEMPLATE PRESS RELEASEIf you are holding an event during the week, tell your local media about it! The template release below provides the key facts about the week and can be tailored to promote your activity.

<INSERT BRIEF HEADLINE TO HIGHLIGHT ACTIVITY>

<COMPANY/ORGANISATION>, based in <LOCATION>, will be <INSERT BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY> during Love Your Lenses Week 2019, which runs from 23 to 30 March 2019.

The awareness week aims to celebrate the many benefits contact lenses can provide while also highlighting the importance of having regular contact lens check-ups and following aftercare advice.

<INSERT FURTHER DETAILS ABOUT ACTIVITY>

Alistair Bridge, Director of Strategy at the General Optical Council, which is orchestrating the week on behalf of the optical industry, said:

“ Millions of people in the UK enjoy wearing contact lenses and do so safely. However, unfortunately not all contact lens wearers know how to look after them properly. All contact lens wearers, including people who wear ‘cosmetic’ lenses, should go for a contact lens check-up at least every year. Their optician will check that their lenses are fitting properly and tell them how to keep their eyes healthy while enjoying the benefits of contact lenses.”

Further advice for contact lens wearers can be found at: loveyourlenses.com

Notes to editors For more information please contact: <INSERT ORGANISATION CONTACT DETAILS>

About Love Your Lenses Love Your Lenses activity is orchestrated by the General Optical Council with involvement and support from opticians, industry partners and manufacturers around the UK.

About the General Optical Council The GOC is the regulator for the optical professions in the UK. Its purpose is to protect the public by promoting high standards of education, performance and conduct amongst opticians. The GOC currently registers around 29,000 optometrists, dispensing opticians, student opticians and optical businesses.

About Love Your LensesLove Your Lenses activity is orchestrated by the General Optical Council with involvement and support from opticians, industry partners and manufacturers around the UK.

loveyourlenses.com

About the General Optical CouncilThe GOC is the regulator for the optical professions in the UK. Its purpose is to protect the public by promoting high standards of education, performance and conduct amongst opticians. The GOC currently registers around 29,000 optometrists, dispensing opticians, student opticians and optical businesses.