CorpComms Magazine

There is something remarkably refreshing about Ed Watson, head of PR at Debenhams who leads CorpComms Magazine's In-house Team of the Year 2010. Perhaps it's his northern background. Or perhaps it dates back to his first PR job, when he dressed up as a giant green alligator and implored shopping centre visitors to recycle aluminium cans. Either way, Watson says it like it is. Journalists have space to fill, and Debenhams has to provide stories that will fill that space. It's not rocket science.

But, as every journalist will attest, while they may want the stories, not every PR has an understanding of what a good one is. That's certainly not a failing that could ever be ascribed to Watson. He has just run a PR campaign to abolish the muffin top, coinciding with the launch of a new range of underwear that tackles the affliction after a customer survey identified it as the most 'annoying lingerie pet-peeve'. And he's desperately trying to make brown suede shoes trendy again, after sales fell to an all-time low.

Around the water cooler

These are what Watson describes as 'water cooler stories' - light-hearted stories that customers will gossip about at work or when socialising. 'We use stories like this to reposition the brand,' he explains. 'It's not darkness and light. We're not taking ourselves too seriously. But it's not just PR for PR's sake. It is PR with a purpose.'

Watson and his team aim to generate two to three stories every week, which emphasise Debenhams as design led and stylish, offering value for money and innovative products.

Some stories will come from visiting the shop floor, chatting to staff and learning about the best selling items or hearing funny anecdotes about customers.

It's a trait that dates back to Watson's days at Asda, although in his three year stint at Leeds-based PR agency Brahms, which included the aforementioned dressing up as an alligator - an experience he describes as 'better than working' - he probably finessed the art of the creative story. For example, one of his clients produced colostomy bags and, while Watson remembers getting column inches, he can't quite recall the story angle - which perhaps is a blessing.

He had previously worked in advertising, but said he liked PR 'because it involved a process that started and finished with the client'. In advertising, he would meet the client and then brief the creative team. In PR, he was involved from the very start 'from the brief, to the strategy to crafting the release', he explains. 'I could be as creative as I wanted to be.'

His time in supermarket giant Asda finessed his ability to work in a high pressure environment. 'Every PR should spend time working in the press office of a supermarket,' says Watson, who spent ten years at Asda, as head of PR for the supermarket and, latterly, its clothing range George. It's a relentless, fast paced environment where each day brings new challenges and dramas. Visiting Asda's Bolton branch, he met Lynn who lived in Marbella but, for the previous two years, had flown in every Friday evening to work the weekend shift. 'It brought our flexible working policies to life,' says Watson. 'It was a people story.' On a visit to a branch in Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, an assistant casually mentioned that they couldn't keep up with demand for white socks. Closer investigation revealed that the branch sold 73,000 pairs per year - roughly one pair every four minutes - far outstripping demand across the branch network. The story became front-page news.

Cheeky fun

And then there were the cheeky stunts. When Prince Charles was scheduled to open a Tesco superstore just two miles up the road from an Asda branch in Yorkshire, Watson hired actor Ricky Tomlinson, also known as Jim Royle, to pay a visit to his store. Needless to say, it was only the pseudo 'royal' visit that got coverage in the local Yorkshire Post. 'Every area is different and each store has a unique personality and its own unique stories,' explains Watson. 'It's all about finding the stories.'

And that will not occur while sitting in Debenhams' Wigmore Street offices. Watson, who lives in Leeds, commutes every Monday morning into London, travels back on Tuesday evening, spends Wednesdays either working at home or visiting one of Debenhams' 157 stores (most recently Dundee and Glasgow).

Then it's back to London on Thursday morning, before returning to Leeds on Friday evening. 'It means two half past five starts a week, but I get to read all the newspapers on the two hour train journey,' he says. 'In this job, you become very good at scanning but the journeys provide a real opportunity to think and read the papers carefully.'

Out to the sticks

Watson, and his team, do not alert store managers that they are about to visit. 'What would be the point?' he says. 'You need to be a customer and see the store as a customer. You need to put yourself in their shoes. Too often, PRs get stuck in their ivory towers. We need to live and breathe our brand if we are going to get customers to buy it.'

Today, the extent of Debenhams' press coverage rivals that of high street giant Marks & Spencer. But it was not always so. When Watson arrived two and a half years ago, stories about Debenhams were as rare as a fashion model in a burger bar. Its press office ranked poorly among fashion journalists and other media, allowing competitors to outperform at every level. Watson admits that he 'didn't realise the extent of the vitriol against the press team', which became clear when he quizzed key media contacts. 'The press office was not doing what it was meant to do, which is to promote and protect the reputation of the brand, and to try to make the journalist's job easier,' says Watson. 'The challenge excited me. Debenhams in Leeds had some really good stuff, but nobody was telling that story. And if you don't tell the story then no one else will. They will only talk about the 'issues', and that becomes one sided.'

Journalists had given up on the press team. They were fed up with broken promises of samples that simply did not arrive in time for photo shoots. They were dismayed by a lack of communication and the press team's apparent indifference. Even within the department store, staff and managers assigned little value to the press office.

Turnaround story

Watson began by educating business line managers on his role and how, done effectively, PR could work to generate sales. He replaced the team, recruiting (mostly by word of mouth) a more proactive generation of PRs to raise the profile of Debenhams' brand and who would always deliver on their promises. He fashioned the seven-strong team like a newsroom, with morning conferences to discuss issues of the day that might generate pegs for Debenhams' products. 'We needed to have our finger on the pulse,' says Watson.

It did not take long before features appeared in high profile titles, such as Harpers & Queen and, for the first time, Vogue. And now, even though financial PR and investor relations are not under Watson's remit, he is looking at making Debenhams' numbers sexy. 'If you can bring them to life with a hook and a picture then you can sometimes get a small piece on the front page,' he says. Or, when the peg is a 1,000 customer pre-order list for a £60 leopard print dress from Star by Julian McDonald, one half page in the Financial Times. 'It was the perfect story,' says Watson happily.

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