schuh is moving away from a single, uniform Christmas display this year, giving store teams across the UK the freedom to put their own creative stamp on their festive windows as part of its ‘same but different’ brand campaign.
Four flagship stores, at Oxford Circus, White City, Manchester and Liverpool, will receive dedicated 3D festive window installations designed as playful expressions of the brand. Stores elsewhere in the UK will feature bespoke festive window applications and in-store mirror stickers, with no prescribed layouts or creative rules, so that teams can interpret the campaign in their own way and reflect the character of their store.
The approach puts store colleagues at the centre of the creative, rather than rolling out one festive look nationwide, and builds on the retailer’s recent use of its windows as a platform for local voices, including its community window project in Manchester and a window created with The Proud Trust.
The festive takeover forms part of schuh’s wider ‘same but different’ platform, built around the idea that people are all the same because they are all different in their own ways. Rather than asking customers to fit in, the campaign celebrates the quirks, tastes and contradictions that make people who they are.
The campaign also introduces a refreshed visual identity and brand language for schuh across out-of-home, connected TV, social, digital and stores. It was developed with Ace of Hearts, newly appointed as the retailer’s lead creative partner, and features a bespoke system of stickers inspired by the way people personalise everyday belongings, from laptops and skateboards to social media profiles. The creative also plays on the brand’s signature ‘sch’ and its silent ‘h’.
At the heart of the campaign is a festive shoot photographed by Adrian González-Cohen, founder of Buffalo Zine, with Iconoclast. Set around a house party of young people celebrating the holidays in their own ways, the imagery carries the new visual identity throughout.
The national campaign launched on 2 November across out-of-home, connected TV, creator content, stores and digital, and runs until the end of the year. Media planning and activation is led by PHD Manchester.
Terry Clark is the Publisher and Content Director of 365 Retail, with more than a decade of experience covering retail design, technology innovations, store openings and the wider retail industry. He also works closely with leading retailers, suppliers, agencies, events and industry awards across the UK.
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