The Australian Effie Awards

General Entry Form 2014

Entry Number: 215

1. Agency Clemenger BBDO Melbourne

2. Advertiser BONDS

3. Entry Title How BOOBS made BONDS serious about bras

4. Category for this Entry E. Other Consumer Goods

5. Author Michael Derepas

6. Phone 03 9868 4444
7. Email Michael.Derepas@clemenger.com.au

Directions appearing with each question must not to be deleted from the completed case; they serve as a guide for both
entrants and judges. Complete entry form in - Type face: black font; 10pt minimum. All data must include a specific,
verifiable source. Refer to the Effie How to Enter booklet for guidelines on properly sourcing your data. Data without a
source will result in entry disqualification. Answer every question or indicate not applicable and define your target
audience in the entry. Any unanswered question will result in entry disqualification.

Executive Summary (Please Attach the Executive Summary to the front of the entry so the
judges can read this first)
1
Every Australian on average has seven items of BONDS underwear in his/her wardrobe .

Despite this, BONDS had never been able to get equivalent share in the lucrative bra market ($1b
2
annually ).

Forgetting previous failures, and armed with a new bra range, we needed a moment that could stop
traffic. So we changed two letters in the BONDS logo - from BONDS to BOOBS.

BOOBS made women believe BONDS was finally serious about bras.

The campaign generated an 83% sales increase, over $4 million in earned media coverage, making it
the most successful launch in BONDS history.

8. Total Campaign Expenditure

Include production and value of donated media and non-traditional paid media. Check one.

Under $500K $5 - 10 million

$500 $1 million $10 - 20 million
$1 - 2 million $20 - 40 million
$2 - 5 million $40 million and over

1
SOURCE: PacBrands
2
SOURCE: Roy Morgan Single Source (Jan 2009- Dec 2013)
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9A. What was the strategic communications challenge?

What was going on in your category? Provide information on the category, marketplace, company, competitive
environment, target audience and/or the product /service that created your challenge and your response to it.

For BONDS, earning the equivalent respect in bras as in underwear posed challenges across
culture, brand and category.

CULTURAL CHALLENGES
Challenge #1: Not quite Australian anymore.
Australians treated BONDS like one of their own. However this love was felt to be betrayed when BONDS
moved their manufacturing to China 4 years ago to compete with increasing commoditisation and private
3
label pressure .

The challenge for BONDS since going offshore has been how not to say they are Australian but just be
Australian - through values and attitude.

BRAND CHALLENGES
Challenge #2: Not for everyone anymore - just young people.
4
Recently, BONDS has been perceived as only for young people (predominantly under 25s) , and not felt like
the populist brand that made it an icon.

5
Women believed that BONDS only make bras for teenagers, or women with small breasts, not me .

Challenge #3: Known for underwear not bras.

6 7
In underwear BONDS is number one by a healthy margin . Its so top-of-mind (average 80% ) that it does
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well in any survey related to clothes, with prompted scores (average 30% ) in bra surveys; but quickly drops

3
SOURCE: Brand Health Nature Study womens tops 2013
4
SOURCE: PacBrands Red Spider Qualitative Research, 2012
5
SOURCE: PacBrands Red Spider Qualitative Research, 2012
6
SOURCE: Roy Morgan Single Source (Jan 2009- Dec 2013)
7
SOURCE: Brand Health Nature Study womens tops 2013
8
SOURCE: Brand Health Nature Study womens tops 2013
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to #3 for consideration. BONDS bras are thought of, but not considered.

CATEGORY CHALLENGES
Challenge #4: Retailer power and multiple false starts.
Retailers in Australia drive a private label agenda, placing enormous pressure on mainstream brands to keep
their floor space.

Beyond the traditional sell-in story, this campaign had to capture the imagination of retailers and make them
think they were going to miss out on something significant if they didnt give BONDS floor space for bras.
Traditional just wasnt going to cut it, BONDS had to be brave and take a risk.

Challenge #5: Fashionable, but poor quality bras

The majority of women knew BONDS made bras, but perceived them to be ill-fitting, prone to shrinking,
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wrinkled when washed, and only suitable for petite girls .

While the quality of the new product range gave us great confidence that women would have a positive
experience if we could bring them to trial, the difficult task was getting them to cast aside their pre-
conceptions.

9B. What were your objectives? State specific goals.

Your entry is expected to include compelling data including behavioural objectives and results. Only in rare
instances are the judges likely to award an entry that only demonstrates attitudinal changes. Provide a % or # for
all goals. If you do not have a specific type of objective (e.g. no quantifiable objectives), state this in the entry
form and explain why and why the objectives you do have are significant and challenging in the context of your
category, etc. You must provide benchmark and context for your goals versus year prior and in context of
competitive landscape and category.

With all of the above challenges in mind, the following objectives were set:

1. Sales:
Increase sales by 15% during the campaign period Aug-Dec 2013 (actual turn-around a sizeable
26% given previous year same period decline of 11%).

2. Talkability & cultural elevation:

Create noise and talkability for the brand so it punches above its weight and enters popular culture.
To be demonstrated and assessed by level of PR presence and peoples interaction with the
campaign.

3. Top of Mind & serious about bras:

Let the public know we were serious about bras by reversing declining unprompted awareness and
consideration scores: 10% increase during the campaign period.

4. Retailer engagement:
Have a positive effect on retail floor space with a minimum of 10 new SKUs ranged. This in the face
of a national decline in presence due to aggressive private label expansion.

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SOURCE: PacBrands Qualitative Research, 2012
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9C. What was your strategy and how did you get there?
What was your strategy? Was it driven by a consumer insight or channel insight or marketplace / brand opportunity?
Explain how it originated and how the strategy addressed the challenge.

Beyond the obvious and trying to appeal to all women with their new bra offer, BONDS at its best has always had a
knack for representing how Australians are feeling. The brands fun, inclusive, down-to-earth personality reminds
Aussies not to get hung up on the seriousness of their lives, and instead appreciate and revel in the simpler things
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and freedom the idealised Australian lifestyle can offer .

We needed to understand what was going on at a societal level to elevate the campaign into popular culture.

1. Aussies are losing their casual laid-back and cheeky attitude.

Australians have always had a more casual attitude, renowned around the world for their laid back, tongue-in-cheek
demeanour. But the Internet and globalisation is changing Australia at an amazing rate with endless amounts of
information, ideals, different cultures and opinions. Australia is fragmenting into thousands of seemingly unique
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tribes . We feel disconnected, and political correctness seems to be winning over engrained Aussie cheekiness.

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This growing frustration at peoples lack of freedom to express themselves presented BONDS with the opportunity
to be the brand that got Aussies some of their traditional cheeky spirit back. This attitude would work at a cultural
level, but also at store level, injecting some much needed fun and freedom back into a somewhat serious purchase.

10
SOURCE: PacBrands Qualitative Research, 2012
11
SOURCE: Hugh Mackay Advance Australia
12
SOURCE: GalKal Qualitative Research 2010
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2. As serious about bras as we are bottoms.

Given the negative perception of BONDS bras, we needed to convince people that we had overcome all the
product and image problems of the past.

Our thinking focussed on BONDS being as serious about tops as they always have been about bottoms. Or to put it
another way, that while BONDS had previously been known to make great products for bums, they were now in the
business of making great products for BOOBS.

9D. What was your big idea?

What was the idea that drove your effort?

The idea should not be your execution or tagline. State in 25 WORDS OR LESS.

By changing our iconic BONDS logo that stands for underwear, to BOOBS, we stated our seriousness about bras,
and injected a cheekiness Aussies were craving.

9E. How did you bring the idea to life?

Describe and provide rationale for your communications strategy that brings the idea to life. Explain how your idea
addresses your challenge. Describe the channels selected/why selected? How did your creative and media strategies
work together?

In not more than three A4 pages show sufficient creative examples to enable the judges to understand the campaign.
These pages can be additional to the seven A4 page written entry.

We brought this to life in four ways:

1. Get the retailers excited.

The retailer engagement phase was the most critical. We had to reverse the trend of shrinking ranging, and at least
double our facings.
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2. Get the nation talking.

We launched BOOBS via dominant outdoor sites in high traffic locations across Australia to ignite a social frenzy.
There were literally BOOBS everywhere. We wanted to stop people in their tracks, confront them, make them
smile, upload photos, and more importantly start the conversation.

We received the reaction we were hoping for, and it spread fast

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This sparked the social conversation we were hoping for, with the public consistently standing up for us against the
do-gooders. We had reawoken an un-PC irreverence.

3. Link it to BONDS and let them know we were serious.

For the week following the launch we wanted BONDS logos everywhere to be changed to read BOOBS to show
the public we were serious - store fronts, receipts, shopping bags, staff uniforms, website, and the BONDS
Facebook page. If BONDS were committed enough to change their sacred logo, they were definitely serious about
bras.
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4. Let them know we had bras for everyone.

Once we had the nations attention, we profiled the full range of BONDS bras in outdoor and digital to showcase all
the different shapes and sizes on offer.
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10. How do you know your campaign was successful?

Detail why you consider your effort a success. Refer to your objectives (results must relate directly to your objectives
in (9b) restate them and provide results) and demonstrate how you met or exceeded those objectives using
quantitative and behavioural metrics. Did your effort drive in-market results? Did it drive awareness and consumer
behaviour change? Use charts and data whenever possible. Explain what x% means in your category. For confidential
information proof of performance may be indexed if desired. Demonstrate the correlation between activity and outcomes.

Make sure you address every objective, whether fully achieved or not. Indicate why the results you have are significant in
the context of your category, competition and product / service.

Australians loved BOOBS so much that it quickly became the hot subject in popular culture. People
debated their views on the word and its cheeky attitude, as well as buying a lot of bras.

Objective 1: Sales
Increase sales by 15% during the campaign period (Oct-Dec 2013).

The campaign generated the all-important sell-in before the above the line launch, and pulled-through
all that stock creating repeat orders within the 5-month period to the tune of +83% growth.

MONTHLY BRA UNIT SOLD (volume)

100,000
2013 Campaign Period
90,000

80,000

70,000

60,000

50,000
2012
40,000 2013

30,000

20,000

10,000

SOURCE: PacBrands Ex-Factory

Objective 2: Talkability and cultural elevation.

The media and public quickly jumped onto BOOBS, resulting in the campaign taking on a life of its own.
Australians embraced the cheeky attitude, and also loved to bring down the conservative types who tried
to vilify it.

The campaign achieved just under $1 million in editorial value, and over $4 million in earned media.
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From television, to press, to radio, we earned 53,900,605 media impressions (editorial + social) .

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SOURCE: Mango PR Bonds Boobs campaign impact report 2013
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Objective 3: Top of mind awareness & serious about bras

As a big brand, prompted awareness generally stays fairly consistent (approx. 80%), but we saw a shift
in unprompted awareness of 34% to 41%. Almost doubling our objective and exceeding expectations for
a hard measure to shift.

Although a slower measure to effect, we also gained significant ground in consideration (28% to 33%)
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among the 25-35 y/o age group and 55+ , proving we were talking to all women.

BRAND HEALTH BONDS BRAS

100% ATL Campaign
90% period

80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Unprompted Awareness Prompted Awareness Consideration

SOURCE: Brand Health Nature study womens tops 2013

Objective 4: Retail engagement.

Have a positive effect on retail floor space with a minimum of 10 new SKUs ranged.

This campaign changed the game for BONDS and retailer engagement. They are now open to
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conversations that exclude traditional reach media .

14
SOURCE: Brand Health Nature Study womens tops 2012 - 2013
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We increased our SKUs from 5 to 22 - essentially quadrupling our floor space in existing retailers , and
ensuring a full range of bra options were available for all women.

Did this affect sales though? You bet. Physical availability was critical to campaign success, but as our
job was to get women to reconsider BONDS for bras, the success of the campaign and subsequent
stock pull-through is further evidence we achieved our goals and engaged a broader audience.

11. Did it achieve a positive ROI?

You need to convince the judges that the marketing investment provided a positive financial return if that was a
requirement. Indexing of data is acceptable. Your entry will not be ineligible if you dont provide any data, but entries
that do provide convincing evidence will gain additional marks. ROI is defined as profit margin on incremental sales less
the campaign costs. (Note that this data can be excluded from the published case on request.) We recognise that, in
some instances, a measurable financial return will not be an objective, but you will need to persuade the judges why not.

Our increase in units sold represent additional revenue of $4,768,329, compared with the same period
last year an increase of 83%. The same period the year previous (August December 2012) is a
reliable estimation of Business-As-Usual sales.

The campaign totalled $1.3m investment. While we cannot disclose BONDS profit margins, we know
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that an estimated industry average is 48.46% This equates to a profit return of $2.3m, or $1.77 per
dollar spent.

12. Convince us that the result was not due to other factors.
You must explain in your entry the effect of any other potentially relevant factors such as product changes, pricing
changes, distribution changes, competitive activity, press coverage, economic conditions, weather etc. Advertising does
not often work in isolation, but the judges need to be convinced that your campaign had a major impact on results.

Distribution
Our distribution did not increase in terms of numbers of outlets. We did have more SKUs resulting in a
greater volume per outlets, but the sell-in to retailers of the BOOBS campaign was a key driver of this.

Media spend & competitive activity

Our total media investment was $1.3m, representing 15% of the total annual category spend. Given our
closest rival Berlei spent more than us ($1.4m in media alone) and grew less than us over the full
calendar year (Bonds 26% vs. Berlei 10%), media spend or lack of competitive activity doesnt explain
our increase in sales.

Category growth
Given the category only grew at 0.4% between August and December 2013, additional sales over the
period can be attributed to BONDS marketing activity.

Pricing
Pricing of the BONDS bras remained stable.

Product
BONDS had made significant improvements to its bra range and product. While the campaign certainly
benefited from being supported by a strong product story, ultimately our job was to draw attention to
these changes something the product couldnt do on its own. This is reflected in the talkability of the

15
SOURCE: PacBrands Customer Marketing
16
SOURCE: PacBrands Customer Marketing
17
SOURCE: Butler Consultants
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campaign, and the nature of the conversation.

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AGENCY AND ADVERTISER AUTHORISATION

SIGNATURE FOR ENTRY BY COMPANY OFFICERS

We certify on behalf of:

____________________ (Agency CEO) and _________________ (Client Company CEO or equivalent)

that the information submitted for the attached campaign is a true and accurate portrayal of the objectives
and results of that campaign.

We also certify that the campaign has not been found in breach of any advertising or marketing codes or
in breach of any law within the Australian jurisdiction.

We acknowledge that the case study of this campaign may be published by The Communications Council
or with the authorisation of The Communications Council, but that we will have the opportunity to remove
such information from that case study that we regard as market sensitive or confidential.

_________________________________ __________________________________
Signature of Officer of Agency Signature of Officer of Client Company

Title: Title:
Company: Company:
Date: Date:

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