When Manchester United fan Frank Ilett (the face – and the hair – behind @TheUnitedStrand) vowed, back in 2024, not to cut his hair until the Red Devils managed five wins in a row, he probably didn’t expect to be looking in the mirror at the biggest barnet in the game 493 days later.
Frank’s hair has become a living, breathing barometer for United’s inconsistency.
With the team finally finding their feet under Michael Carrick and sitting on a run of four straight wins, the tension wasn’t just about the league table; it was all about Frank’s impending trim.
We saw a golden opportunity for Argos. As the nation’s go-to for getting everything you need when you need it, who better to ensure that the moment the fifth whistle blew, the tools for the “haircut of the century” were ready and waiting at the door?
That’ll be why we made Argos Frank’s “Official Delivery Partner.”
With the brand’s Fast Track delivery USP front and centre, we promised to dispatch a full arsenal (so to speak) of trimmers, shavers, and styling products to Frank the second the curse was broken.
Since then, Frank has been everywhere – from The Guardian to The Sun and Sky News. We launched the campaign across Instagram and TikTok with video content that has gone on to rack up 11.4 million views (and still rising), all organic.
The campaign put Argos at the heart of football’s most significant cultural moment and inserted the brand into the centre of the “will-he-won’t-he” football news cycle.
It all tapped into the hair-raising tension of the moment and was a reminder that, while United’s form on the pitch might be unpredictable, Argos’s delivery off it is anything but.
