Rene Federico, former marketing executive from Nike and Converse, joins Primark to ignite brand awareness in the U.S.
Primark has operated stores in the U.S for the past 10 years, but its brand awareness does not reflect that, said Rene Federico, Primark’s U.S. head of marketing.
“We have a differentiated position as a retailer, [consumers] just need to know about us, and that’s where I come in,” Federico said.
Federico joined Primark in May 2024 after working in executive marketing positions at Nike for 20 years and most recently as the vice president of global direct marketing at Converse.
Founded in Dublin, Ireland in 1969 as Penney’s, Primark currently operates about 400 stores globally, with the majority in the U.K. and Ireland. In the U.S. it has 30 stores across 12 states, with more slated to open in the South and Midwest soon.
Physical stores increase brand awareness, but that’s at its own pace, Federico said. To accelerate awareness, the marketing head is turning to paid media to bring Primark’s brand awareness to the next level.
Primark’s foray into building brand awareness in the US
On April 21, Primark is launching a marketing campaign about falling in love with Primark again and again. The initiative builds on the success of its first-ever U.S. marketing campaign in October 2024 in the New York metro area, which is where it has the highest concentration of stores. That campaign had “strong” results in terms of lift in brand awareness, she said without providing specifics.
The spring campaign will again be focused in the New York metro area and have a national angle in its digital channels, such as social media. The push will include streaming and linear TV ads, as well as influencers.
The goal is simple: Awareness, awareness, awareness.
“What we’re really learning from a consumer standpoint is the proposition we have as a retailer,” she said. “Consumers are seeing a lot of value in what we have to offer.”
How Primark positions itself as a brand
The brand needs to focus on telling its story and what it brings: A style-forward product at a value price. Primark does not often have discounts or coupons, but just offers “honest prices” without making shoppers jump through hoops, she said.
“We don’t use discounts as a traffic driver, and I think that’s actually kind of refreshing,” she said. “It says we stand for and buy what we have to offer at an affordable price and make it available to consumers.
“We won’t make you wait for when we want to accept discounts or send mailers to bring you in store,” Federico said.
Primark will measure the effectiveness of the campaign with its media partners, shopper surveys at checkout and communications from the store. It will also track sales on key looks that it features in the campaign.
Currently Primark only sells through its stores, which is how it can “best serve its customers” in the U.S., Federico said. Federico did not share a timeline for when it plans to launch a shoppable website in the U.S. Currently, its site allows shoppers to browse and see each store’s inventory. In 158 stores in England and North Wales, shoppers can reserve inventory online to purchase in store.
In store, the repeat purchase rate is about three times a year. This is a rough estimate as it does not have a loyalty program or an app as a way to regularly track shoppers.
Future marketing plans
Other marketing initiatives Primark plans for 2025 include pop-up events in conjunction with cultural events within a market, such as back-to-school, music festivals, fashion weeks, sporting events or seasonal changes.
Customer activations like these get Federico most excited about building the Primark brand, as they drive buy-in from the consumer to the brand.
“Even though those can be smaller in the scale of reach, I think they do have the most stickiness in terms of connecting the consumer to our brand proposition,” she said.
Lessons learned from Nike and Converse that Federico brings to Primark
These initiatives have the goal of increasing brand awareness. With decades of experience at major consumer brands, Federico brings a wealth of knowledge to this position, including that the customer comes first, brands have to innovate and it’s the people that make the brand special.
In terms of innovation at Primark, it’s all about asking the right questions about if the brand is serving its customers and what does it need to innovate and change within its own systems and processes to build a better brand.
“All of that requires innovative thinking and a deep respect for how we do things and a healthy amount of pushing forward to say, ‘If we’re here today and we hope to be here tomorrow, let’s be honest about what’s going to get us there and is where we want to be tomorrow far enough and what do we need to make leaps and bounds,'” she said.
And lastly, it’s the people that makes businesses the best brands.
“One of the reasons I was drawn to Primark was that same caliber of talent, that same passion, that same obsession with consumers, the same internal focus on people to create environments that are sharing and dynamic where you work as a team, which all has been a part of my career ever since we started retail and Nike all the way through Converse,” she said.
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