Bringing stunning creative campaigns to life at record pace.

Investing in creativity to shape tomorrow

Technology retail is a fast-paced industry, where innovation drives ever-increasing product development while consumer choice becomes more complex. This dynamic, ever-changing environment is what attracted Stuart McDonald to Currys, the largest retailer of electrical products in the UK, offering renowned brands such as Samsung, PlayStation, Nintendo, Panasonic, Sony, De'Longhi and many other household favorites. As head of creative services for the iconic retail brand, Stuart leads the team responsible for bringing innovative and emotionally resonant creative campaigns to life.

“Currys’ range of products is constantly evolving,” McDonald says. “Being at the cutting edge of technology makes it an exciting place to work.”

Once considered a rather traditional retailer, the Currys brand has evolved significantly over the last years to become much more experimental, customer-centric, with stand-out campaigns centerd on human connection. The bold creative leans into Currys’ brand identity to showcase products and offers in a fresh and colorful way that really differentiates it from its competitors. This approach is also evident in its playful TV advertisements, and across its TikTok and Instagram channels where content is relatable, often featuring Currys’ employees, and leans cleverly into humorous, viral trends to capture the attention of Gen Z and broader demographic audiences.

Every campaign, McDonald says, whether it’s Black Friday or its ‘New Term’ campaign, must answer the question, “Why come to Currys to buy this washing machine or this laptop when it’s available elsewhere? It’s about sparking an emotional response with our customers that differentiates us.” This is something Currys’ creative does incredibly well. Through the use of customer-centric language and a strong emphasis on trust, expertise and value, the creative showcases a mix of creativity and strategic marketing.

This underpins the creation of high-quality content at scale. With up to 20 campaigns per quarter for multiple vendors, often with bespoke requests, it presented significant challenges. Tight production times strained the team's ability to deliver the standard of creative they desired.

“Building outstanding creative with storytelling integrated using our brand structure was a challenge. There’s only so much you can do in photo editing alone,” says Senior Digital and Creative Design Manager Ben Hickman, who works on McDonald’s team. “We’d often rely on bespoke photography or 3D modelling, which came with high costs and lengthy production times.”

The turning point came when Currys’ creative team began leveraging the generative AI capabilities of Adobe Firefly to reimagine and accelerate its campaign concept process. “Firefly energized us to push creative boundaries. It’s a game-changer for collaboration and concept development,” Hickman says. “We now have control and influence to evolve the brand, shape ideas, and see them come to life within a few months.”

For the recent ‘New Term’ campaign, the move saved thousands of pounds in potential agency costs, cut production time in half, and redefined how the brand approaches creative production.

“Our customers are about 80% of British households, so our goal is to make it as easy as possible to make the right technology decisions and remove barriers to understanding it – going ‘Beyond Techspectations’ as we call it,” McDonald says. “Being an in-house agency, staying close to our own brand, and enhancing our creative power to demystify tech jargon for customers. Using Firefly helps us do all of it.”