Wonderbra has, since the Nineties, been delivering us iconic marketing campaigns. When Eva Herzigova stopped traffic in 1994, the lingerie brand’s appeal to both guys and girls was obvious – the boys wanted Eva, the girls wanted underwear that made them look like Eva. Put simply, sex sells.
Well, fast-forward to Noughties and that much hasn’t changed. Wonderbra hasn’t developed any more subtlety in its appeal, but it has started creating more engaging campaigns that say something tangible about the product benefits (beyond the broad ‘wear this, look hot’).
First there was Sabraine Banando going 3D on a roadside billboard in 2008, cueing talk of more traffic accidents.
And then, this year, we were given the Wonderbra trampoline.
What happened:
Well, it’s pretty simple really. Wanting to extol the virtues of their brand new strapless bra, Wonderbra needed to put it to the test. And they started with an important insight: as the female readers amongst you will know, excessive movement in a strapless bra (gigs, festivals, dancefloors being prime locations) is largely inadvisable, unless you are very confident in the professed ability of your product.
So, to prove themselves to be the ultimate support, Wonderbra put trampolines in fitting rooms in Belgium – building on a PR stunt they had held in Spain the previous year. Customers could check out exactly how the bra fared under the most bouncy conditions. Then they filmed it, and made a cute viral to spread the word.
Why we like it:
Wonderbra looked at their product values, which to date had been largely focused on enhancing assets, and had conveyed little about support. So, having identified a gap in their product line, they took an important insight from their target audience to communicate brand and product value.
Sure it was a gimmick and comments on the video were not all complimentary of the methodology, but it was a fun one. And importantly (prior the video viral being removed from YouTube for “violation of YouTube’s policy on nudity or sexual content”), the product was shown to work, convincing a whole host of women that Wonderbra isn’t just a one-trick push-up pony.
They kept the provocative nature of the brand alive by creating a video they knew would go viral and would probably only survive a matter of weeks on YouTube – which it did. But losing the video didn’t matter. Word would still spread that Wonderbra creates such an effective strapless bra, that they’re willing to test it to the limit and put the evidence online. The fact that the screen below is all you can now see of the video only serves to bolster their cheeky, risqué position.
What the brand says:
Head of Marketing, Julia Nolan, has commented on the new range: “We conducted a comprehensive series of tests with real girls, which included dancing, bending, stretching and jumping, all designed to put the bra through its paces.
‘This unique technology lifts the weight of the bust, supports and gives a trusted Wonderbra cleavage. We have created a groundbreaking garment giving women the perfect solution to the age old strapless bra problem.”
By Lucie Bartlett on June 17th, 2011
Tags: Advertising, Experiential marketing, Fashion, Synergy Loves, Synopsis, YouTube
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