Savers picks WFCA to build brand presence

Savers, the health and beauty retailer owned by Superdrug holding company AS Watson, has appointed WFCA to handle its full-service advertising business following a competitive pitch.

The Kent-based agency beat M&C Saatchi to win the multi-million pound business. Walker Media was also involved in the pitch.

WFCA will create a Christmas campaign that will include television and outdoor ads and in-store work, as well as local drives. The creative work will highlight the “unconditional value” offered by the high-street retailer.

WFCA chief executive Michael Richards says: “Although Savers is a 400-plus store retailer, it is a hidden gem, and the account is a powerful win for us.

“The advertising builds a personality for Savers by turning around the conditional value language of other retailers, such as ‘The great winter sale never starts. That’s why we’re called Savers’.”

Savers was acquired by AS Watson, the retail arm of Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa that also owns mobile phone network 3, in 2000.

The chain was founded in the north-east of England in 1998. It aims to be the most competitively priced high-street retailer of health and beauty products and household goods.