Determined to go bigger “creatively and in media” with its TV push, Primark claims to be “more confident than ever” in its offering.
Primark has unveiled its first UK TV advert to support the launch of its ‘That’s So Primark’ brand platform, after celebrating 50 years on the high street in 2024.
Created in collaboration with VCCP, the advert, ‘In Denim We Can’, aims to position Primark as the go-to for affordable, good quality denim, highlighting the brand’s autumn/winter 2025 collection.
Directed by Grammy award-winning filmmaker Nadia Marquard Otzen and set to a 1979 cover of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ by The Slits, the advert shows women in Primark denim going about their morning routines and travelling across the city through a dance-led visual.
The advert is part of a fully-integrated campaign extending into social media, influencer marketing, out-of-home, transport wraps and digital. Central to the campaign is ‘Primark Portal’, described as a branding device designed to drive “distinctiveness across every touchpoint”.
Primark marketing director Wendy Duggan claims the business is “more confident than ever in what Primark offers”, meaning now felt like “the right moment to go bigger, both creatively and in media” at a time when value matters more than ever to shoppers.
The campaign also supports the nationwide rollout of Primark’s click-and-collect service. As of May, the retailer had introduced click-and-collect to its 187 stores across Great Britain. The move follows the expansion of Primark’s home range through a tie-up with Pinterest in March, which CEO of parent company Associated British Foods George Weston claimed drove “very strong traffic” to the website.
In its trading update for the 16 weeks to 4 January 2025, Primark explained the aim is to “focus on initiatives across product, digital and brand to drive underlying growth”, which involved expanding its UK click-and-collect offering as a “cost initiative”.
The budget retailer saw sales fall by 4% to £2.1bn in the UK and Ireland for the 24 weeks ending 1 March, with like-for-like sales decreasing by 6%. At the time, the company claimed investment in its website, SEO and paid marketing, and CRM activity all “drove footfall into stores and contributed to overall sales growth”.
In July, the brand promoted Matt Houston to the newly created role of chief customer and digital officer to bring the customer and digital teams into “one integrated function”. His appointment followed the departure of chief customer officer Michelle McEttrick, who left the business after just under three years.
Houston joined Primark in 2018 as strategy and transformation director, before being promoted to group digital and strategy officer in 2021. He is credited with “establishing” the business’s digital function and leading the delivery of the strategy.
