Hema is a Dutch department store for all your everyday needs. In 2011 Hema introduced it’s ‘mega push-up bra’, the bra that adds 2 cup sizes. But how do you stand out when big players like Hunkemöller (Dutch) and Victoria’s Secret have the same promise? By doing something revolutionary in lingerie advertising: having a man model the push-up bra, plus making sure that the media and social media are informed of this fact. The Dutch national newspapers, radio and TV stations all latched on, and subsequently the campaign went global as trending topic - from Europe to America to Asia. Hema’s promise was translated perfectly in all languages: if a man can look like that, imagine what it can do for a woman.

Our goal was to create something that would soon become 'the talk of the town'. Something that would get enough press coverage to help us match up to the big players, and at the same time let the Dutch consumer know that Hema now has a bra that adds 2 cup sizes.

We decided to use the combination of outdoor and PR. On tuesday December 13 the outdoor campaign was launched. A series of 3 photos in which Andrej Pejic models our Mega Push-up Bra was placed at bus shelters as well as adshels throughout the Netherlands, 2,000 sites in total. On this same day we informed the Dutch media and key bloggers of the fact that this model was actually a man by sending out a press release. The outdoor campaign ran for 1 week. Within hours the press rose to the bait. Because it was such a bold campaign the news spread very quickly, within hours the news went national, and global the very next day, just like we expected it would.

Hema department stores:The target was a 3% increase (index 103) in push-up bra sales. The actual sales increased with index 104.4.

Hema.nl online store:The target for online sales was more ambitious. We were aiming for twice as much sales but ended up with 10 times more sales, resulting in the 2 most common bra-sizes being sold out within 1 day. The rest of the the sizes were sold out within 3 days.

Consumers:According to Hema's client panel, 2012, this particular communication was perceived as outstanding (74% to Hema's mean percentage of 58%), original (70% to 47%) and fun (68% to 43%).

We decided to do something that had never been shown before in lingerie advertising: we let a man wear the push-up bra. We asked male model Andrej Pejic - known internationally for his androgynous looks - to model the bra. Thanks to the '2 cups extra' his flat chest looked feminine and curvy; the ultimate proof that Hema's new bra did what it promised to do. This we demonstrated in 3 different photos featured in a nationwide outdoor campaign. With a press release we wanted to make sure that all Dutch media (including social media) were informed of the fact that the model showing the Hema bra was a man. With such a bold campaign for a department store, we expected that a single press release would do the job.

Compared to brands such as Hunkemöller (Dutch) and Victoria's Secret, Hema is a relatively small player in the lingerie market. That's why we had to come up with a clever campaign that could compete with these brands and their much larger advertising budgets.