Crew Clothing might be a heritage name, but when it comes to digital innovation, it’s breaking new ground. We sat down with Raine Peake, Group Digital Director, to learn how the brand is unlocking the power of TikTok, UGC, and performance-led storytelling—and seeing results that challenge the assumptions of its more traditional customer base.
Read the full interview by Sophie McCallum, Senior Producer at RetailJam…
Raine Peake, Group Digital Director, Crew Clothing
Let’s start with how you’ve approached social media recently. What’s changed?
We’ve been reviewing all of our social platforms and brought in Fospha to help us measure impact properly, so we’re not just marking our own homework with Google data. It became clear we were massively under-potentialising on social, and that was a real wake-up call. It’s where our customers are, and we needed to be doing more.
TikTok isn’t where most people expect to see Crew, but you’ve leaned into it?
Absolutely. TikTok wouldn’t be the obvious place to start for a brand like Crew. Our core demographic is 35 and over. Any time I say I work here, people go “oh, my dad loves Crew, he’s got one of your polos”, but of course their dads are on TikTok!
We try to tell a consistent story across every channel, that thread has to run through everything.”
So, how have you adapted your content?
We’ve created a lot of user-generated content, most of it made by the team themselves. It’s not as polished as our brand campaigns, but it really resonates with customers. It feels real and approachable.
We’ve also been investing significantly in digital marketing on TikTok. We’re seeing a return on ad spend of 9:1, which is incredible. We’ve found a whole audience there who aren’t on our other channels.
What’s the strategy behind reaching them?
We want to introduce them to the brand and take them on a journey. We’re present in a lot of places. We sponsor Queen’s tennis, for example, so it’s about reminding them who we are and what we stand for.
We try to tell a consistent story across every channel, that thread has to run through everything. The content isn’t revolutionary—it’s shopping, packing, competitions, try-ons—but for Crew, it’s actually something very new.
People respond better when they see something that reflects themselves, especially in the environment where they’re shopping.”
What’s been the internal reaction to putting more money behind social?
It’s been a shift. Crew is a very privately-owned, profit-focused business. So, the idea of investing heavily in social, especially when it’s not always easy to prove, takes some convincing, but we’ve seen it work. Conversion is relatively consistent across the channels, but where social really shines is new customer acquisition.
What does success look like once you’ve reached someone?
Ideally, we want them to make a purchase, engage with us further, sign up to emails, visit us in-store, all of it. The journey doesn’t end on social. What we really want is to get them onto our own channels or through the doors of a shop.
How do you think about content tone across platforms?
We use UGC much more heavily on social. The team are featured walking around in outfits, doing try-ons, it’s relatable. On the homepage, it’s much more polished: professional shoots, models, clean styling, but the content has to fit the platform. People respond better when they see something that reflects themselves, especially in the environment where they’re shopping.
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