The Marketing Week Podcast: Specsavers on how ‘common sensical’ marketing made it Brand of the Year

With more than 40 years on the high street and one of its most recognised taglines, Specsavers is no stranger to success.

Specsavers scooped the win of Marketing Week’s Brand of the Year for 2025, pipping Adidas, EE, Monzo, ServiceNow and Warburtons to the prize.

Founded by Doug and Mary Perkins in 1983, Specsavers has seen strengths in the business, as group revenue grew by 7.5% in the 2023/24 financial year to £4.18bn.

In this episode of The Marketing Week Podcast, editor-in-chief Russell Parsons is joined by CMO Peter Wright and global brand director Spencer McHugh to delve into how the brand has evolved and grown into new territories but kept its purpose core to its heart and maintained “enviable awareness consideration and trust” in a competitive category.

Specsavers wins Brand of the Year accolade 

This follows on from the brand’s CEO John Perkins’ remarks at Marketing Week’s Festival of Marketing earlier this year, where he said: “Our purpose is not financial success. Our purpose is about changing lives, and actually the rest sort of follows”.

McHugh and Wright also dig into the inside story behind some of its greatest successes – and failures – along the way, which led to its Brand of the Year win, alongside the notion that “consistency builds effectiveness overtime” for brands.

The duo also delve into how “common sense should be applauded” in marketing, and how that thinking has helped the brand, as well as a close relationship with customers.

Ahead of the next episode in Marketing Week’s regular series, find The Marketing Week Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Acast.