Debenhams has launched its 2016 Christmas marketing campaign from retained agency J. Walter Thompson London, with a subtle evolution of their successful “Found It” campaign platform, which has featured as the basis of its seasonal activity for the last two years. For 2016 the campaign evolves to showcase premium gifts with literal personality, with a host of celebrity voices enlisted to bring them to life. The multi-million pound cross-channel campaign, designed to highlight the brand’s gifting credentials sees top talent such as Jennifer Saunders, Ewan McGregor, Billie Piper, and Mel Giedroyc recruited as the voices of a selection of key gifts including handbags, lingerie, kids wear, men’s bags and a coffee machine.
The campaign, which runs across TV, Radio, Outdoor, Digital and print kicks off with six TV ad concepts directed by Chris Floyd from Ultd Productions, with the airing of the campaign set to take place during a prime iTV break on Monday November 14. Radio ads are also set to run across stations including Heart, Smooth and Capital at key times to target gift-buying customers. Outdoor, meanwhile, comprises of 48 sheet and six sheet executions, with over 5,000 outdoor panels nationwide. Print ads will appear in titles including Metro, Sunday Times Style, You, Fabulous, Grazia, Stylist, Marie Claire and Red. A 160 page gift guide with a 2.2 million print run showcases the gift offering featuring almost 6,000 ideas. In addition, bespoke 40 and 16 page “You’ve got the invite, we’ve got the outfit” fashion brochures have been inserted into Sunday Times Style, Grazia and Stylist, promoting party wear for men, women and kids as well as beauty and lingerie.
In-store activity has also been dialled up for 2016 with the transformation of the brand’s flagship, Oxford Street, into the “Found It Gift Factory” for the season. The iconic building will feature a window scheme that extends throughout the exterior façade and roof complete with pipes, cogs, wheels and funnels which give the appearance of a factory setting. The window scheme includes a “Sequinator” transforming fashion with Christmas glitz and a conveyor belt shrinking enormous fragrance bottles down to real-size. Meantime, a “Gift-a-Tron” reads people's minds to reveal their perfect present; and bubbles will decorate the entire street for a dramatic rooftop display.
Debenhams has also upscaled investment into delivering Christmas atmosphere across its entire store estate, with over 1.9million metres of glitter ribbon, 160,000 baubles, 722,200 twinkle tree light and 55,000 stars set to decorate stores. Found It is extended to branded carrier bags and also 330,000 canvas Found It gift bags will be available at till points, to carriage home gifts as well as be used when transporting gifts over the Festive period. In addition all Debenhams online orders will be boxed and bagged in red Found It packages. Perfect for Santa’s deliveries! Debenhams’ army of 200 personal shoppers will become “Gift Finders” for the season. Through an online reservation service customers will be able to book an appointment and delegate their Christmas shopping. All print, in-store and other executions were created by the Debenhams in house marketing and creative teams. Media planning and buying on the campaign, which will also run across Debenhams' 70+ international stores in countries such as Cyprus, Latvia, Malaysia and Gibraltar, was by Carat.
Debenhams Marketing Director, Richard Cristofoli, said: “’Found It’ was developed as a 360 degree campaign to highlight our position as a gifting destination. It was always conceived as a campaign that had longevity; celebrating the joy of finding the perfect present for a loved one. The campaign has evolved over the past three years and started to become a part of consumer consciousness. We are delighted to be evolving the ‘Found It’ for 2016 and believe the new roster of famous voices and humorous scripts and the joined up campaign across all channels will help ensure we deliver cut-through and resonance during a cluttered time of year.” Russell Ramsey, Executive Creative Director at J. Walter Thompson London, added: “The “Found It” campaign evolves every Christmas. This year we’re focusing on the different personalities of each present. It’s product centric, fun and entertaining.”
