2016 IABC OVATION Award Winning Campaign
Triumph International is one of the world’s largest intimate apparel companies. It enjoys a presence in over 120 countries with the core brands Triumph®, Sloggi®, Valisère® and HOM®. Globally, Triumph serves 40,000 wholesale customers and sells its products in over 2,000 Triumph Stores.
The year 2014 marked the 100th year anniversary of the modern day bra, as we know it. Triumph planned to celebrate the occasion by re-fashioning its popular “Amourette” style bra, which debuted in the late 60‘s and was considered not only revolutionary due to the use of elastane and a moulded seamless cup design at the time, but it was also one of the first comfortable fashion-forward bras. The updated “Amourette” took into account the need for a fashionable bra with exceptional fit.
The opportunity from a PR perspective was to tell the story of the bra through the ages, and how Triumph has been a pioneer and leader through that evolution. The other part of the story entailed combing through statistics of what women today think of the bra, and how Triumph uses that research to be a leader in fit and fashion when it comes to intimate apparel.
Triumph used to invest in PR in Canada, but dropped the strategy and lost connection with fashion editors and journalists. There was an immediate opportunity to re-establish these relationships through media relations, while leveraging the bra’s 100th year anniversary and Triumph’s fit clinics across Canada.
DETAILS
CLIENT
Triumph Lingerie
CATEGORY
Fashion
2. Stakeholder Analysis
The main audience target for this campaign was women aged 18-55 who are fashion forward, post-secondary educated, living in urban centres, with busy lifestyles/careers. From a psychographic perspective, these women are interested in the fit and look of their intimate apparel and are willing to spend upwards of $100 for the perfect style and fit. The secondary audience comprised of national media outlets covering fashion, which we felt resonated with the Triumph consumer.
Triumph routinely conducts market research to always have its finger on the age-old question “what do women want”. This focus is particularly important for an intimate apparel manufacturer and marketer, as it is in listening to the consumer for 100 years that has made Triumph the successful global brand that it is.
Triumph International conducted extensive research to find out what women think of the bra and the following findings inspired the “Stand Up for Fit” campaign:
- 64% of the world’s women are wearing the wrong size bra
- 30% of the world’s women have never had a proper bra fitting
- 73% of women agree that badly fitting undergarments can make or break your day
- 68% of women agree that they choose their undergarments to complement their choice of clothes every day
- More than 50% choose their underwear to feel sexy despite what goes over the top
- 3 million women search online for bra fit advice every month
The key research findings above were documented in an infographic to support the media relations campaign.
3. Goals/Objectives
Goals
- To position Triumph as a fashion forward and iconic intimate apparel brand with fashion/lifestyle media and ultimately the consumer
- Celebrate the bra’s 100th year anniversary while challenging women to “Stand Up for Fit”
- Gain editorial coverage for the refashioned “Amourette” bra
Objectives
- Attain coverage from 80% of top tier women’s fashion and lifestyle magazines for Triumph
- Attain coverage from 75% of top fashion bloggers and influencers with non paid posts
- Secure as much coverage as possible for Triumph within 6 months, with the intention of solidifying media relations, since the brand did not do much PR until this campaign
- Aim for “Amourette” images in editorial with redirection to Triumph online store – measure increase in web traffic same period versus prior year
- Achieve an MRP score of 80% or higher
4. Solution Overview
There were a number of factors that determined the solution and tactics that were used. We had a huge message to convey about the bra turning 100, but more importantly we wanted to develop and nurture relationships with the media to create an intimate relationship with the brand. It had been a number of years since Triumph did any PR in Canada, so we had to approach the media as if we were starting a brand new relationship. We were also tasked with positioning the brand as not only the perfect fit, but also a fashionable one at that.
The solution was to create a media relations campaign encouraging the media to visit a Triumph fit advisor for a personal consultation. As a result of determining measurements, we then sent a lingerie set including the updated “Amourette” bra with matching bottom. The “Amourette” was also being promoted at Hudson’s Bay to commemorate the bra’s 100th anniversary, while highlighting Triumph as a formidable brand delivering comfortable and stylish intimate apparel solutions over the years.
We decided on the very personal approach of bra fittings for two reasons. One, to establish the lost connection with fashion media, and two to drive the key message for the campaign which was for women to “Stand Up for Fit”. We highlighted the key finding that over 64% of women wear the wrong size bra, and after 100 years, isn’t it time to “Stand Up for Fit”?
Tactical Plan
Step One – Identify Audiences
Communicate to target audience identified in Stakeholder Analysis above, through fashion and lifestyle media, who also fit into the client’s target market scope. We identified media targets in two tiers. Tier 1 consisted of national women’s fashion and lifestyle magazines. Tier 2 consisted of top fashion/lifestyle bloggers and influencers. We used our contact list and focused on the titles that had a significant following, which targeted the same demographics and psychographics as the client’s consumer.
Step Two – Craft the Communications Strategy
Key findings from the research conducted by Triumph (see Stakeholder Analysis), was used to create a compelling story about the importance of fitting, and after 100 years, how women who are not wearing the right size bra, need to “Stand Up for Fit”. A news release was written pointing to this research, with tips on sizing, the importance of getting fitted twice per year, and the complimentary fitting service offered by Triumph at Hudson’s Bay stores across Canada. The iconic “Amourette” bra was the main focus for product seeding with a product fact sheet included in the press kit. The press kit also included a company brochure outlining the history of the bra, and how Triumph was a pioneer throughout that evolution. An infographic detailing research findings (see Stakeholder Analysis) was also printed as a visual aid editors/journalists could use to convey the need for regular bra fittings.
Key Messages
- Triumph has been an innovator in intimate apparel ever since the first bra was introduced 100 years ago. Today, Triumph is an iconic brand synonymous with great fitting and fashionable intimate apparel.
- To commemorate the bra’s 100th year anniversary, Triumph modernizes its iconic “Amourette” bra, which first launched in 1967, and was the first modern bra featuring a moulded-cup technology that eliminated seams.
- Over 64% of women wear the wrong size bra for various reasons. Triumph recommends a bra fitting twice per year to ensure a comfortable and fashionable fit. Email: Bra.Fittings.ca@triumph.com to receive a personal complimentary fitting with an expert Triumph advisor at select Hudson’s Bay locations.
Step Three – Media Relations Strategy and Execution
Reach out to media target list using personalized emails inviting the contact for a private one-on-one bra fitting with a Triumph advisor at her nearest Hudson’s Bay store. In Toronto, most fittings were conducted at the Queen Street store.
A media relations tour and desk-sides were secured for the Montreal market. We asked for an appointment with each major magazine in their boardroom, and had the editors/journalists visit us within the time frame that we were on site. All 3 major publishers (Rogers, TVA, Transcontinental) were visited in one day with the Montreal Triumph fitting team. A rolling rack with product inventory was brought into the boardroom along with banners and retail bags. A small presentation was given, plus lunch, and then private fittings in an editor’s office or the ladies room.
We also brought the fitting experience to English magazines that could not make it out to Hudson’s Bay for a fitting. But, the majority were able to visit the store for a fitting and a pitch over coffee.
A bilingual media relations campaign was conducted from May to September where we had personal conversations with key media influencers to book bra fittings, ship product samples, provide product information, help shape stories, and provide images. In many cases, fashion media outlets planned future issues with us based on the look books made available by Triumph. The hash tag #StandUpForFit was created to encourage media to start a conversation via social media platforms.
5. Measurement/Evaluation
The Triumph “Stand Up for Fit” campaign proved to be very successful despite a small budget and within a short period of time. Results will be explained below while tying into objectives outlined earlier, and how they were met or surpassed.
All major fashion media outlets featured the “Amourette” bra, with information on fit clinics and a link to the Triumph online store. The objective was to capture 80% of this group, and in fact, we achieved 90%. All major fashion tittles that featured Triumph were: Fashion, Flare, Chatelaine, Canadian Living, Vero, and Coup de Pouce. We were not able to get support from ELLE and Clin D’Oeil until 2015. The client was extremely pleased with the results we achieved, and for the fact that Triumph was back on the fashion map in Canada.
A nice surprise came from the half page feature in the Globe and Mail titled “Beauty and the Breast”, which ran in the Saturday Style section and garnered over 1 million impressions.
Another outstanding hit was the 5-page story on the anniversary of the bra in Chatelaine where Triumph was mentioned a few times and images and historical facts from the Triumph brochure, were used throughout the feature. This hit alone produced almost 3 million impressions with an ad equivalency, for metrics sake, of $250,000. This hit alone delivered an ROI on the campaign investment of 5 times.
The response from lifestyle and fashion bloggers was quite impressive, and many were fitted over the course of the campaign resulting in an amazing amount of online stories featuring personal experiences, while highlighting the Triumph “Amourette”, and the complimentary fit clinics across the country. The beautiful photography of the “Amourette” and creative stories that surfaced online was truly a work of art, and went beyond the goal of earning ordinary coverage.
Another objective was to aim for product images and redirection to the Triumph online store in editorial. We were not only able to measure a considerable amount of increased web traffic (25%) same period versus prior year, but Triumph received numerous emails from consumers requesting a fitting appointment as well. We had set up a unique email, which we shared with the media when pitching and conducting media relations. It evidently was passed on to the consumer in editorial.
MRP was used to track stories and success, and the following metrics were realized in 6 months:
- 13,649,883 impressions
- 61 stories
- 100% of the stories were positive
- 100% of media mentioned the company name and fitting clinic
- 100% of media picked up the key messages
- cost per contact of $0.001
- MRP Quality Score of 88.52%
One of the campaign’s objectives was to obtain an MRP quality score of 80% or higher, and we surpassed that by providing Triumph with almost 89%.
All-in-all the campaign was a huge success considering we had a limited budget, and worked with print, and online media only. Had we been given the opportunity to reach out to broadcast, we are confident we would have seen some great coverage on that front as well!