Debenhams partners with You magazine to tie in with the launch of new autumn fashion range and drive spread of its new TV creative.

1. The Brief
Every year Debenhams have a huge brand push on their autumn women’s fashion ranges. This
year however we had new planning challenges, in the form their key competitor M&S having a
huge drive in the same market, with bigger budgets, blanketing the market with large print
formats and consequently generating a greater share of voice.
With no additional budget for Debenhams we were challenged to create a solution that would
engage readers in a fresh and exciting way and display Debenhams in a modern, quality
environment. We also needed to tie in with the launch the new, more high-end fashion
designers whilst also driving the spread of their new TV creative; which was due to launch the
same day as the print campaign.
The ‘Print’ Solution
Debenhams in print this year have not strayed far from, pages, fractionals & DPS formats, and so
after witnessing the exciting new activity M&S had brought to the market we were tasked with
advising on one ‘big hit’ for an outstanding display creative execution. This was done if the form
of a stunning inside front cover gatefold which ran in the illustrious You magazine supplement
on the 1st September, a first for Debenhams and a creative success with both the client and You
themselves.
‘You’ was the ideal environment in which to run this piece which included four of Debenhams
most important brands of the season.
We also made the most of this in-paper activity by taking advantage of augmented reality app
expert Blippar’s technology and worked this into the ad copy in a tasteful & brand friendly way.
When ‘Blipped’ using a tablet or smartphone, the ad page would burst to life and offer a clickthrough call to action to the Debenhams website homepage which on the day was housing the
newly released TV ad – Again creating awareness of this and achieving a key objective of the
brief.
The Tablet Solution
As this was a new launch we wanted to maximise the effectiveness of this opportunity so
teamed up with Adnostic, a London based digital production agency specialising in multiplatform enhanced ad creation. The result of this partnership, & at minimal cost, was an
engaging tablet execution that displayed Debenhams’ key products and fashion lines in one ad,
with the opportunity to view all products, check prices & offers and also watch the newly
released video and click through to purchase. [images below]
The Results
Overall this activity was a great success and deemed a great combined effort that pushed the
boundaries of what Debenhams had previously run before. Similarly it was a great example of

2. collaborative work utilising experts in the fields of tablet & AR in order to create a beautiful
piece of advertising that ticked all the boxes.
Considering the infancy of the Mail app, the tablet ad generated nearly 400 interactions, over
320 of which were views of their brand new TV ad. This coupled with a further 250 Blippar
interactions and the dynamic print execution left all feeling the collaboration was a successful
start to getting Debenhams new autumn brand in the public eye.
Tablet Ad Screen Grabs
Opening Page
Example Product Page

4. Video in action

5. You IFC Gatefold