Christine Heffernan

Group Communications Director
Tesco
UK

Christine Heffernan was elevated to the top communications job at the UK’s biggest supermarket in 2019, after five years with the firm, most of which had been spent as director of corporate affairs for Tesco in Ireland. In these roles, she worked as part of a team transforming the Irish business and its communications to rebuild trust in the brand.

At the time of her appointment as group communications director, then-Tesco CEO Sir Dave Lewis said she brought “a wealth of experience and business insight” to the role, as well as “energy and deep communications expertise”. Like the other big supermarkets, Tesco weathered the Covid storm relatively well in comms terms, focusing on its loyalty proposition by supporting communities and key workers. The supermarket has since transformed its internal communications, and Heffernan and her team deftly handle communications around everything from the permacrisis to health and food waste, to intense market competition.

This year marks a decade since Heffernan joined Tesco. Before that, she was head of PR at Irish energy company Bord Gais, and spent four years in senior comms roles at Vodafone Ireland. Early in her career, she worked for the European Parliament and as a policy advisor to the Treasury in London.

Can you share a moment in your career when you saw PR's direct impact on business performance?
I think every communication you create has a role to play in building trust and credibility with a business and brand, whether it’s for customers, colleagues, investors or wider stakeholders. In this last year, we have done everything we can to highlight Tesco’s commitment to support households with great value through the cost-of-living crisis. We repeatedly highlighted our value proposition and always let our customers know when prices come down. As a result of this – as well as talking about our investment in quality – we saw customers choosing to shop with Tesco more, reflected in growing market share over the financial year 23/24.

What are the communications industry's biggest challenges and opportunities in the year ahead?
A challenge that we have faced for a while now is that attention spans for content are shorter. Many people get their news from headlines alone, video content needs to be less than 30-seconds long and tolerance for long context-setting opinion pieces is low. So the challenge here is how do we get cut through when bitesize content is being produced and uploaded every minute. The opportunity in this is that it forces all communicators to be more concise, direct and some creative, which is no bad thing.

What have you most admired about the communications industry over the past year, and what has disappointed you?
I always admire bravery and boldness in communications and I think there have been some fantastic examples of businesses and individuals really standing up for what they believe in. Things like Dove’s campaign in Canada last year to ‘Keep the Grey’ – standing up for older women in the workplace is a brilliant example of that.

What work from your team are you most proud of over the past year?
Over Christmas, we really wanted to shine a spotlight on the record need for supplies at foodbanks as we prepared for our Winter Food Collection in stores. We tapped into the iconic moment of the Christmas Tree illumination at Trafalgar Square and decided to replicate it. We worked with our charity partners, FareShare and the Trussell Trust to create an alternative Christmas Tree made entirely from the top ten most needed food items this Christmas – in the ‘alternative Trafalgar Square’ in Scarborough. It was a huge team effort and helped us to donate over 2m meals to support charities across the UK.

How have you switched off from work and maintained wellness over the past year?
It’s super important carve out time that is protected for you and it’s not always easy to do in this industry, when reactive issues can pop up at any time. I try to lead by example and I am lucky that I have a brilliant team that I can lean on. Tesco this year also introduced a new Buy Holiday scheme, which I am hugely supportive of and very much looking to taking and extra few days throughout the year.

Which book/movie/TV show/podcast/playlist/other cultural source has helped you get through the past year or provided inspiration?
I don’t know how I would have got through the past year, juggling a busy job with having a toddler, without Ms Rachel. She is a constant and very welcome presence on our screens at home!

If I wasn't working in marketing/communications, I would be...
I would love to work in new product development, I am constantly inspired by our Tesco chefs and food teams.