Christmas 2022 was set to be dismal, to say the least. In a time of ‘permacrisis’, with the pandemic pushing us into a cost-of-living debacle unlike anything we’ve ever seen, how could Primark show off its extensive holiday offering without encouraging over-consumption, and cut through in one of the busiest times of the year for highstreet brands?

Our insight was simple: whenever anyone pays us a compliment on something we’ve bought from Primark, we can’t wait to tell them where we got it from. Whether it’s festive fashion, gifting or homeware, we love that ‘thrill of realisation’: discovering amazing finds, for less than we thought.

Enter our campaign: ‘The Season’s Worst-Kept Secret’. Highlighting Primark’s desire to turn dread into relief, it frames savings as a joyful win, instead of a compromise across digital and in-store. With Primark’s cheeky brand tone, copy is fun, punchy, and minimal across all global territories. Visually, we used bright blasts of colour, inspired by pop culture to help the brand stand out against the stereotypical Christmas colour palettes of competitors.

Given the financial context, our campaign, with its lines such as ‘Blow their mind, not your budget’ reassured shoppers who were feeling the pinch that they were not alone, and could still celebrate the season with us as their little secret.

The results? Hardly hush-hush. Top performing emails featured our campaign creative (open rate average 54%), encouraging Primark to create a ‘shop the advert’ CRM campaign for Christmas 2023.

Organic social achieved +21% increase in reach and +6% in engagements on the year previous, with total mentions across all socials at 34,080.

Through ‘The Season’s Worst-Kept Secret’, Primark shows it’s possible to celebrate the holidays, without breaking the bank. With a solid strategy, insight, and an idea with more legs than a festive dog pyjama suit, they launched on November 1st. Clearly, even they couldn’t keep the brilliance of this secret to themselves.