‘The stars aligned’: Primark on using TV to ‘supercharge’ its marketing mix

Despite having been on the UK high street for 50 years, Primark has held off from TV advertising until now.

As part of the ‘That’s So Primark’ brand platform, the retailer launched the ‘In Denim We Can’ campaign with VCCP on Monday (1 September), featuring a dance-led TV advert highlighting the brand’s autumn/winter 2025 collection. According to marketing director Wendy Duggan, the creative is key to upping “consideration” for Primark’s product lines.

“TV brings that brand, emotive element that you can’t always get through performance marketing and especially when you’re trying to make somebody think a little bit differently or to reconsider the brand. It felt like the right time to do it,” says Duggan.

“We have to stretch ourselves to think a bit differently.”

TV was chosen to appeal to “lapsed” female UK shoppers who don’t necessarily shop with Primark all time, the idea being to demonstrate the “breadth” of the expanded denim range.

According to Duggan, “all the stars were aligning” around denim as a category as it “forms the base of your new wardrobe in Autumn”.

“We know there’s a lot more that we could talk to and I wanted to reach far and beyond our social and our influencer strategy, and our community strategy, and show up in places where people don’t necessarily expect to see Primark,” she explains.

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The TV campaign is also supporting the rollout of click-and-collect across Primark’s 187 stores throughout Great Britain.

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”.

Duggan describes the campaign as an “incredible moment” to “drive through the fact” the customers can shop online as well as in store.

The launch was fuelled by a test and learn approach, with the brand taking learnings from its TV push in the US market aimed at driving brand awareness.

The goal is different in the UK. Given Primark boasts “90% brand awareness”, Duggan explains the campaign has a “very different job” to drive consideration of the denim range and get shoppers to reconsider the brand.

“Our windows, our in-store elements, our events, our influencers, our paid social strategy are just as vitally important as the TV. But I really wanted to test and learn to see the reaction that TV could bring,” she adds.

‘A sticky brand’

Duggan describes In Denim We Can as “the most integrated piece of work” Primark has ever done from a campaign perspective, explaining the team is “keen to maximise every single element”.

Alongside TV, the brand will continue its social-first and influencer-led work, with a “big performance marketing push” planned across its digital channels and website to ensure Primark is a “sticky brand that people like to talk about, especially in the UK”.

The brand works with a range of influencers, from celebrities such as Rita Ora to the “everyday girl influencer”. A “huge mix” of social activity will roll out across the UK over the next four weeks, including as part of a partnership with fashion lifestyle site SheerLuxe.

Employees, notably Primark senior buyer for denim Trudy Lyons, will also feature in social media content. Duggan her colleagues know the products “inside out”. 

“I genuinely believe that’s what customers want now as well. They want to see behind the brand. They want to see real people,” she adds.

Primark is a business where product and marketing has to be interlinked.

Wendy Duggan, Primark

Shop windows, transport wraps, digital and out-of-home are also part of the mix. For Duggan, Primark’s marketing mix has been “supercharged by adding in TV”, although it’s important the brand doesn’t neglect the power of its in-store marketing,

“Our most successful performing content from an Instagram perspective is always our visual merchandise and content from in-store. My hypothesis around that is people like to see the in-store experience online from a Primark perspective to almost know that it’s there,” she says.

Also central to the campaign is the ‘Primark Portal’, described as a branding device designed to drive “distinctiveness across every touchpoint”. It’s another way to set the Primark brand apart, alongside the retailer’s distinctive blue branding and brown paper bags.

“[The Primark Portal] represents a highlight of the things that we’re most proud about or that we want to talk about,” says Duggan.

The portal is an asset the brand is looking to build over time, particularly as it spreads into new global markets. Primark’s “price slice” logo on certain products is another device the brand is using to highlight the value on offer in relation to quality and price.

‘Sweating every single measurement tool’

Measuring the effectiveness of Primark’s marketing, and in particular the TV campaign, is vital for Duggan, especially given television is “such a new area” for the retailer.

A day on from the campaign going live, she noted the brand had already received “a really positive customer reaction”, gauged through sales of denim and social media comments.

“If we look at TV in particular, we’re absolutely sweating every single measurement tool that we have at our disposal. So, everything from sales to basket and that process to brand health, to perception, to reach, to impressions,” says Duggan, explaining TV won’t be used for every campaign going forward.

I wanted to reach far and beyond our social and our influencer strategy…and show up in places where people don’t necessarily expect to see Primark.

Wendy Duggan, Primark

She adds that customer reaction and consideration through the “feedback loop” is “probably the most important measure”. As well as informing marketing, the feedback is integral to product development.

Primark, says Duggan, is a business where “product and marketing has to be interlinked”. Marketing worked closely with the womenswear director to make sure her vision of what the products convey was brought to life.

Further down the line, the marketing boss hopes to expand the That’s So Primark platform to other areas of the business, such as homeware. Speaking in April, CEO of parent company Associated British Foods, George Weston, claimed the expansion of the retailer’s home range via a tie-up with Pinterest in March has driven “very strong traffic” to the website.