In Summer 2002,
the Woolworths Marketing Director went on maternity leave. The CEO decided to handle the portfolio personally.

Trevor Bish-Jones had been critical of the "don't forget what you went in for" ad series. Customer panels had revealed that people remembered Des Lynam's moustache, not what he was advertising!

The CEO wanted to find someone to become 'the face of the brand', and chose the comedian Paul Kay.

New Marketing Director Stephen Robertson, who had joined from B&Q, liked BBH's pitch of two characters, a daft sheep and his hapless sheepdog friend, Wooly and Worth, to front the brand. They drew on a much loved though controversial character Keith the Alien that had been developed by Bates Dorland in 1997.

Again some executives were dubious, but it was soon clear that the pair were a big hit with the key target audience, small children and their mums.

Wooly and Worth first appeared in the Summer of 2003 and became a regular feature on TV screens.

When Wooly and Worth tackled the fairy theme again, it was altogether different from the approach fronted by Paul Kay. Worth was compère for an extravaganza of fun, singing the 'Winter Wonderland' song that the firm had made its own the 1990s. As the sheepdog sang, his nemesis, Wooly, waved a magic wand to reveal some of the gifts that were available at three for the price of two. With classic puns like Wooly's 'you're snow fun' and a cheeky wink to the dancers and a 'ring ding ding' worthy of a Carry On film from Worth, the campaign became the best-remembered of the season.

Besides appearing on TV, Wooly and Worth also spawned a range of their own. Following requests from the public, the soundtrack of the Winter Wonderland ad was released by 2|Entertain on a compilation CD of the same name. The backing track to this page is on the Crimson Label's 'Winter Wonderland', CRIMPCD005.

Wooly and Worth also made regular appearances in-store. The lovable characters proved a big hit, particularly with small children, opening many of the 200 stores that were refurbished between 2002 and 2008.

The inventors of the costumes never had to wear them.. For the poor actors and store staff assigned to 'Wooly and Worth duty' the temperature inside the fur suits soon rose to over a hundred degrees. Limited visibility inside the outfit meant that they had to be chaparoned to avoid squashing the very children they were supposed to be entertaining!

The staff at the Kingston-upon-Thames store worked several late nights as a camera crew from BBH tried to film a scene for one of the commercials. The script called for Wooly to pick up a 'Love Actually' DVD. This proved quite hard with cotton reels for fingers. In the end the store's haberdashery counter rescued the situation, as Velcro was applied both to Wooly's fingers and the DVD!

Wooly and Worth plush toys proved very popular with the public. Between 2004 and 2008 the chain stocked no less than six different models of the pair. As well as the original model (left, on sale in a new store at Harlow, Essex in 2004), they appeared as hot water bottles (an idea that some parents later reported was 'a bit wet'), in keyring size for charity Kids First, a miniature size for competition prizes, as glove puppets, also commissioned by Kids First, and dressed in hats and gloves for the winter (above and below).

2007 saw a new direction for the Wooly and Worth. The pair had a series of celebrity encounters. In each commercial the situation required a trip to Woolies for an emergency 'WorthIt!' purchase. There were memorable ads featuring Rolf Harris, who had first appeared in the Wonder of Woolworth campaign in 1977, and Darth Vader, before the legendary Jackie Chan stole the show.

It is a great credit to BBH and the in-house Marketing Team led by Tony Holdway, that they achieved very high recognition of Wooly and Worth, despite a very limited television advertising budget. The witty campaign was cleverly targeted, on minority channels and at the cinema, to reach the target audience.

Hot on the heels of competing with big-name cuddly stars like Scooby Doo at the Midland Road, Bedford store (pictured above), Wooly and Worth got the Simpsons treatment courtesy of the legenday animator Matt Groening. To date Woolworths is the only 'real' company to get such an honour from the man who brought the Kwicky Mart to our screens. The firm's market-leading sales of character brands led to the exclusive deal, allowing Wooly and Worth to promote 'The Simpsons Movie' with a unique commercial.

But - as is the way for many stars of stage and screen - just as Wooly and Worth were at the top of their game, the credit crunch struck. At the moment the two are 'resting' and hoping for the call. Perhaps they have put away their microphones for forever (though they will live on in toy boxes up and down and the country), or maybe, just maybe, one day Shop Direct will bring them back in the world of virtual reality on the Internet.

Oh ... and if you came to this page hoping to the see the ads, you'd better click here!

Shortcuts to other Exhibits in the Original Virtual Museum

2000s Gallery

2000s Overview    Death by Demerger    New values and a new direction    Visit a Big W store

Market Towns and City Centres     The Smaller Stores    Multi-Channel Retail    Wholesale & Media    WorthIt! Value Comeback

Launch of the Virtual Museum    Meet the team    The Lighter Side    Wooly & Worth    Collapse and Rescue

Museum Navigation

Home Page    Recent History Gallery     Visit the new Woolworths on-line