Based on the premise that 85 percent of women buy the wrong size bra (popularized on a May episode of Oprah), GapBody—Gap’s women’s intimate apparel division—launched a six-city promotional tour with bra fitting specialists working in a custom-designed lounge. Rebecca Weill, director of public relations at Gap Inc., hired Alison Brod Public Relations to promote and manage the mobile marketing campaign, which included stylists Rachel Zoe (in New York and Los Angeles) and Jennifer Rade (who visited Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami).
Starting July 7 in San Francisco—the Gap’s headquarters—the team headed by Alison Brod account executive Jill Borkan spent three days at the San Francisco Shopping Center. The campaign then traveled to Los Angeles’ outdoor mall the Grove, Chicago’s Water Tower Place, Boston’s Atrium mall, and Miami’s Aventura Mall, before it reached New York in time for Fashion Week. In the absence of well-frequented malls, Borkan took the Bra Bar to Bryant Park’s Fashion Week tents for four days.
Los Angeles-based A Squared Group designed and built the Bra Bar (which could be configured in three different sizes, the largest being 15 by 24 feet) from steel trussing with a hardwood floor, a bar area where products were displayed, and polished fiberglass seating. Designed specifically for the touring promotion, the piece was lightweight, easy to set up and take apart, and made to hide all the wiring for the electronic equipment underneath the platform.
Sleek but feminine, the Bra Bar—decorated with lavender and pink couch seating, vinyl cushions, and sheer white curtains—provided a showcase for the underwear, as well as a comfortable setting where consumers could relax. (They were supposed to talk about their underwear, after all.) Laptops invited visitors to take style surveys that directed them to a particular underwear style, while two “bra-tenders”—certified bra fitters from Minnesota-based event planning firm BI—took measurements and gave suggestions. “Everything from the lounge environment to the bra-tenders was designed to make the topic of bras and getting fitted for the right size and style of bra less mysterious and more fun,” Weill said.
Although guests were not given the undergarments of their choice during their visit, they got discount cards (specifically for bras) and fortune cookies that contained lingerie-related lines like “A support bra carries you through all the hard times.”
—Anna Sekula
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Starting July 7 in San Francisco—the Gap’s headquarters—the team headed by Alison Brod account executive Jill Borkan spent three days at the San Francisco Shopping Center. The campaign then traveled to Los Angeles’ outdoor mall the Grove, Chicago’s Water Tower Place, Boston’s Atrium mall, and Miami’s Aventura Mall, before it reached New York in time for Fashion Week. In the absence of well-frequented malls, Borkan took the Bra Bar to Bryant Park’s Fashion Week tents for four days.
Los Angeles-based A Squared Group designed and built the Bra Bar (which could be configured in three different sizes, the largest being 15 by 24 feet) from steel trussing with a hardwood floor, a bar area where products were displayed, and polished fiberglass seating. Designed specifically for the touring promotion, the piece was lightweight, easy to set up and take apart, and made to hide all the wiring for the electronic equipment underneath the platform.
Sleek but feminine, the Bra Bar—decorated with lavender and pink couch seating, vinyl cushions, and sheer white curtains—provided a showcase for the underwear, as well as a comfortable setting where consumers could relax. (They were supposed to talk about their underwear, after all.) Laptops invited visitors to take style surveys that directed them to a particular underwear style, while two “bra-tenders”—certified bra fitters from Minnesota-based event planning firm BI—took measurements and gave suggestions. “Everything from the lounge environment to the bra-tenders was designed to make the topic of bras and getting fitted for the right size and style of bra less mysterious and more fun,” Weill said.
Although guests were not given the undergarments of their choice during their visit, they got discount cards (specifically for bras) and fortune cookies that contained lingerie-related lines like “A support bra carries you through all the hard times.”
—Anna Sekula
Related Stories
GapBody Takes Bra Promotion on the Road
Q&A: Alison Brod
Diet Dr Pepper Tour Gives Mini Makeovers
Underwear Launch Has Lots of Skin
Gap's bra bar inside the New York Fashion Week tents.
Photo: BizBash
For GapBody’s six-city Bra Bar Style Tour, A Squared Group designed and constructed a chic lounge where guests could relax and get fitted.
Photo: BizBash
The promotion spent two days at Los Angeles' outdoor mall the Grove.
Photo: WireImage
Certified bra fitting specialists provided by event planning firm BI were on hand to take measurements and give suggestions.
Photo: BizBash
Apart from New York (where the Bra Bar was located within the Fashion Week tents at Bryant Park), Gap's mobile marketing campaign set up inside shopping centers like Miami's Aventura Mall.
Photo: BizBash
