Primark on TV: Messy Confidence or Safe Play?

Fashion advertising has been stumbling. Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle campaign should have been glamour, instead, it backfired as tone-deaf and racist. Audiences don’t want Barbie-doll polished glam anymore, they demand brands that feel authentic, inclusive, and grounded in real life.

That’s why Primark’s first-ever TV ad is worth paying attention to. For decades, their marketing mix has been different: giant high-street stores that double as billboards, word-of-mouth bragging rights about bargains, and the odd celebrity collab. They never needed TV, the queues outside Oxford Street in London said it all.

So why now? And what does it say about where the brand is heading?

The Ad Itself: Messy, Everyday, Relatable

The surprising thing is: Primark didn’t sell polished looks. The ad shows ordinary people, in ordinary settings, messy bedrooms, everyday routines and commuting to work, all moving confidently in denim. The cast is diverse and the tone is inclusive.

The ad is upbeat, portraying routines of urban women rushing to start their busy lives, resonating with the brand's shoppers

Instead of sanding down its edges for TV, Primark bottled the essence of its stores: the chaos of the morning rush, the accessibility, the sense of confidence in everyday basics. This isn’t high fashion. It’s high street, ready to wear clothes on television.

A Market-First, Fully-Integrated Campaign

What makes this campaign stand out is not just the TV spot itself, but its scale. As VCCP, Primark’s agency of record, described it: this "market-first, fully-integrated campaign extends into mass-reach platforms such as TV, out-of-home, in-store, transport wraps and digital".

That’s a huge shift for a brand whose traditional mix relied on the physical pull of its stores, social-first word of mouth, and seasonal collabs. By pushing into multiple high-visibility platforms at once, Primark is testing whether it can build a consistent, distinctive identity at scale, not just in-store.

“That’s So Primark” Isn’t New But Does It Stick

Contrary to what it might seem, the “That’s So Primark” tagline isn’t freshly minted. It first appeared back in 2023 with the In Denim We Can campaign and has since powered the brand’s global push, including its U.S. debut in 2024.

The intent is obvious: stop letting the brand be defined by other people’s labels: cheap, cheerful, fast fashion, stylish but basic. Instead, Primark says: we’re not an adjective, we are the adjective.

On paper, it’s ambitious. Think of Google becoming a verb, or Hoover becoming shorthand for vacuuming. But ambition isn’t adoption. Nobody actually says “that’s so Primark.” Not yet. Until it seeps into everyday language, it risks being clever copywriting rather than cultural shorthand.

Why Denim Was the Starting Gun

If you’re going to test your first TV spot, you need a product that feels universal. Denim is exactly that. Globally, 1.25 billion pairs of jeans are sold every year; in the UK, over 70% of adults own at least one pair. Jeans are emotional as well as practical: the right pair can shift how you walk, how you feel, how you see yourself.

It’s safe, yes. But it’s also smart. Denim embodies Primark’s pitch: confidence, resilience, and affordability. My own £10 and £15 pairs have lasted years, proof that value doesn’t mean disposable. If basics can carry a brand into the TV spotlight, denim was the natural choice.

Leadership in Flux: A Brand in Transition

The timing of this campaign is also telling. In early 2025, Primark’s long-time CEO resigned, and by mid-year, the chief customer officer followed. With new leadership settling in, fresh views and strategies are inevitable. Against that backdrop, this TV debut doesn’t feel like a neat new era but it rather feels like a transitional moment.

From a strategic global marketing perspective, one of my favourite modules back at NTU, what strikes me is how every decision matters more once a brand operates at scale. It’s too early to say whether Primark’s first TV ad signals a lasting brand shift or simply a transitional bridge, but the stakes are undeniably high.

With new leadership stepping in, there’s pressure to prove direction. And in the corporate calendar, those pressure points are already set in stone: Black Friday/Cyber Monday and the holiday season. Campaigns for these moments aren’t built overnight — they’re planned months in advance, assets are ready, launch dates locked. Internally, it may feel routine; externally, these will be read as the first big test of the brand’s evolving strategy.

The global layer makes this even more interesting. Primark is no longer just a UK high-street giant, it’s expanding in the US, where retail culture and consumer expectations are different, and doubling down in Europe. That raises the stakes for consistency. A denim campaign in London has to resonate in Boston and Berlin too, while still reflecting the brand’s local inclusivity and everyday value.

What’s Next?

From a marketer’s perspective, the real test isn’t this launch, it’s what comes after. Primark has put itself on TV, wrapped buses, and filled digital screens. That scale is new, but it also creates expectation: once you’ve gone mass, you can’t quietly slip back into word-of-mouth and TikTok hauls.

The upcoming Black Friday/Cyber Monday and holiday season will be the first proof points. Can Primark translate this integrated brand voice into campaigns that not only drive footfall, but also build long-term identity? And globally, can a line like “That’s So Primark” resonate in Boston or Berlin the same way it might in Birmingham?

With new leadership settling in, strategy will inevitably shift. This could be the start of a bigger transformation, more investment in media, stronger brand positioning, expansion in even more countries, and a clearer global identity. Or it could be a cautious experiment.

Either way, the stakes are higher now. Primark has moved from being a brand you stumble into on the high street to a brand broadcasting confidence at scale. The question is no longer “Will people show up?”, it’s now “Can Primark prove it belongs on the same stage as the brands it once ignored?”