Thinkbox
Since 2021, two iconic British brands, Coronation Street and Argos, have been linked through Sainsbury’s sponsorship of the long-running ITV soap. While Coronation Street is the UK's longest-running continuing drama, Argos is only the fourth sponsor in the show's 64-year history, making this partnership both significant in advertising terms and culturally resonant.
Over the past three years, the collaboration has evolved beyond just TV break idents into an immersive brand experience spanning licensing, social media, and digital activations. Reflecting the evolving lives of Weatherfield’s residents, the sponsorship now includes a Sainsbury’s/Argos storefront in the show, launched in July this year, along with product placements like Sainsbury’s bags and everyday items, creating an authentic integration within the soap’s storylines themselves. The idents themselves remain at the core of the sponsorship deal.
Matthew Moreland and Chris Clarke, Group Creative Directors at T&Pm, understand the importance of respecting such a beloved institution. They understand the importance of respecting such a beloved institution while ensuring the sponsorship feels natural, not intrusive. “Five million people tune into Corrie (our mums included), and they LOVE the soap, so the last thing we wanted to do was irritate them,” they say. “It was key that the work felt like it came from people that ‘got’ the show. So the team brushed up on Weatherfield knowledge and even hung out on the Cobbles for the day. This helped us make the work as relevant as possible.”
Aligning with Argos’s broader brand identity, the idents feature Connie and Trevor, Argos’s brand mascots since May 2023. The team aimed to showcase the duo as genuine fans of Coronation Street, endearing them to viewers, and showing them engaging with the show. The shorter format of the idents compared to typical ad spots enabled a more light-hearted approach. “All we had to sell was the fact that Connie and Trev love the show as much as everyone else. And when you have such strong brand characters, you don’t have to spend time explaining who they are. You can just concentrate on making the viewer smile,” they say.
Given Ofcom’s regulations prohibiting calls to action or promotional messaging in sponsorship idents, Moreland and Clarke embraced the creative challenge: "It gives us a simple brief - be funny and memorable."
Connie, based on a Design A Friend doll, and Trevor, inspired by a Chad Valley dinosaur toy, may be recent additions to Argos’s brand, but they’ve quickly connected with the Coronation Street audience. “Corrie fans have even messaged Argos for a compilation of the idents, which we now have on YouTube,” the duo notes.
With Coronation Street broadcast three times a week in primetime, Moreland and Clarke face the additional pressure of keeping the idents fresh and entertaining for loyal viewers but say that they see it as a “good” challenge to have. “It pushes you to make every ident as entertaining as it can possibly be, so the viewer looks forward to seeing it time and time again,” they say. Fortunately the team at ITV Studios, the producers of Coronation Street, assist with this process. “The Corrie producers were a great sounding board for the work. As custodians for the show, they had a good sense of what will and won’t work for their audience. This again helped the idents resonate with the audience,” say Moreland and Clarke.
What’s more, by collaborating closely with ITV they have been able to do more contextually with their sponsorship idents than they would have been able to with traditional TV advertising. “You suddenly have all these famous characters and locations to play with, which wouldn’t usually be possible because of licensing,” they say. “Like the ident where Trev refused to accept Weatherfield not being a real place. We could have only ever done that in conjunction with ITV.”
Looking forward, Moreland and Clarke are about to start working on the next batch of idents. They also hope that the Argos-Coronation Street connection can be extended beyond television, allowing audiences to engage with the brands off-screen too. Through this evolving partnership, Argos and Coronation Street continue to deliver a unique and engaging experience for fans, both on and off the Cobbles.