Superdrug & Savers Apprenticeship Campaign

A first job. A promotion. A completely new career. For Superdrug and Savers, these all represent the start of an apprenticeship, but they rarely speak to the same audience. The existing programme had become dated and fragmented, making it harder to communicate with people at very different stages of their working lives.

Our brief was to create a new identity that could unite the entire apprenticeship offer under one recognisable brand, while giving each pathway its own personality. It needed to appeal to school leavers taking their first step into retail, existing colleagues looking to progress and aspiring managers preparing for leadership. Just as importantly, it needed to reassure parents and carers that the programme offered genuine long-term career opportunities.

The heartbeat
Progress doesn’t look the same for everyone. Some people are just getting started. Others are ready for their next challenge. That thinking became Rise Up — a simple idea that could stretch across every stage of the apprenticeship journey without losing its meaning. Instead of creating three unrelated programmes, we designed a family of identities built around three distinct chapters: Learn, Level-up and Lead-on.

Each tier has its own visual character. Learn takes inspiration from the energy and optimism of the classroom, bridging education and the workplace. Level-up introduces a more confident, story-led aesthetic for colleagues stepping into management, while Lead-on adopts a cleaner, more premium look that reflects senior leadership development. Together they create one connected design system that grows alongside every apprentice’s career.

The impact
The new identity gave Superdrug and Savers a flexible campaign platform capable of supporting apprenticeship recruitment, internal communications, social media, careers events and ongoing programme delivery. To help teams roll the brand out consistently, we developed a comprehensive toolkit including brand guidelines, campaign messaging, Canva templates and ready-to-use creative assets.

Since launch, Rise Up has become the recognisable face of the apprenticeship programme across both brands, supporting one of UK retail’s most established development schemes. Today, Superdrug has helped thousands of apprentices gain nationally recognised qualifications, with strong progression into permanent roles and leadership positions, demonstrating the long-term value of investing in people at every stage of their careers.