WonderBra: the inside story

In 1939, some wonderful things were happening in North America. Gone with the Wind was released, nylon stockings went on sale for the first time and last but not least,  WonderBra was born, a brand that would soon be associated throughout the world with the ultimate in femininity.

WonderBra has been known for a number of historic firsts.  In the mid-1940s, the WonderBra brand launched the Winkie bra that women could buy with or without straps.

In 1963, Canada launched the first “push-up” bra, which soon was crowned with worldwide success.

In the 1970s, WonderBra took the bold step of creating the first TV commercials that featured live models instead of mannequins. And the “Dream Lift” bra even made it into the Guinness Book of Records in 1996. An uplifting story indeed.

Given our long-term association with the brand, Upperkut was asked to create a campaign celebrating the 70th anniversary of the company in Canada in 2009.

A new Website was developed, packaging was totally redone, new models chosen, a host of unique POS material created…

 

Not to mention a striking video…

…and a fabulous contest for the new Website, where woman across Canada were asked “Who is the woman who best personifies the true essence of femininity?”. One store employee actually started writing on the back of sales receipts “Vote for me in the Wonderbra contest”! Unfortunately, she was well behind the frontrunners Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. Pretty tough competition, it must be admitted. Marilyn finally won by an…eyelash.

We tripled the Website database in less than 3 months. Over the same period, the 70th Anniversary site ended up ranked 1st by Google on 66 key words compared to 2 for the previous site. Happy anniversary all around.