
The Art of Shaping
Issue 20 | September 2011
Agency
BCM
Creative Team
Creative Directors: Marco Eychenne, Nick Ikonomou; Art Director: Fiona Moir; Copywriter: Jeff Smith, Jesse Richardson
Production Team
Agency Producer: Shane Ford; Interactive Producer: Kimberley Harper; Interactive Developers: Andrew Smith, Aaron Lepik, Stephen Nolan
Other Credits
Agency Partner: Paul Cornwell; Group Account Director: Michele Prescott; Account Manager: Angela Bozzi; Account Co-ordinator: Emma Grenier; Head of Channel Planning and Integration: Joanne Stone; Head of Interactive Strategy: Nathan Bush; Interactive Strategist/Social Media: Scott Esdaile; SEM Specialist: Emmeline Dorsey; Media Planner/Buyer: Malina Redwood; PR Photography: Henryk Lobaczewski;
Date
March 2011
Background
Shapewear is the fastest growing segment in the women’s lingerie category. To tap into this market, Triumph developed the Shape Sensation range. They needed a campaign to:
Position Triumph as an advocate for the positive portrayal of the female body shape and image.
Appeal to a younger more fashionable segment of the market - specifically women aged 16-44 years who are extroverted and prepared to pay for products that enhance their appearance.
Increase retail sales.
Idea
Negative body image is an issue that affects all women.
Triumph’s strategy was to be an ally to real women real women and to position the Shape Sensation range as a solution.
They commissioned ‘The Shape Report’, a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative research study into women's perceptions of their bodies.
From these findings, it became apparent that women resented the labels that were given to describing their body shapes. ‘Apple’, ‘pear’ and ‘column’ are hardly flattering terms.
Instead, Triumph came up with six identifiable body shapes and named each after a painter who appeared to favour that shape and who, unlike modern society, revered and celebrated the different shapes of women.
The task was then to find six women who would each act as an ‘amassadress’ for the six different body shapes.
At the heart of the campaign was an interactive website (theartofshaping.com.au) where women could identify their shape, read the Shape Report, enter the competition to be an ambassador and find relevant styles and advice for their shape.
Entrants were encouraged to share their entry via social media to secure votes.
Marie Claire magazine partnered with the brand to help drive awareness of the report findings and to drive traffic to the website.
Advertorial launched the competition, and online there was a Marie Claire homepage takeover, banner display advertising, eDMs as well as cross-promotion on Marie Claire's Facebook and Twitter communities, Facebook ads and SEM.
A launch PR stunt involving six women representing each of the body shapes walking through the Sydney Central Business District in Shape Sensation underwear generated enormous media interest.
Results
The campaign received TV coverage on all Australian free–to-air channels, with an estimated media value of $1.1M, plus double page spreads in newspapers and coverage in magazines and online editorials.
There were 260,000 visits to theartofshaping.com.au with more than 1,700 women entering the Shape Ambassador competition and over 63,000 people voting for them. Users spent an average of 3 minutes and 30 seconds on the site, interacting with an average of 8 pages.
In six weeks from campaign launch, retail sales for Triumph Shape Sensation were up an impressive 45% over budget.
Profiles and comments from women proud of their bodies and speaking out against the destructive influences of stereotypical beauty ideals were shared by hundreds of thousands of Australian and New Zealand women.
The best result of all is knowing that real women - Triumph's customers - feel better about their bodies.
Our Thoughts
This is a genuinely integrated idea, starting with an idea about women’s body shapes, associating each with masterpieces of art history, then turning that into an engaging communications package both on and offline.
Very professional.
I would love it to work. Both my wife and daughter seem to have trouble with the fact they are not stick insects. My lovely wife is more of a Renoir with a bit of Degas thrown in but for some reason wants to be a L.S.Lowry.