M&S knew two thirds of women were wearing the wrong size bra and one third had never had a bra fitting. And that people from the Black, Transgender, and Disabled Communities, felt underrepresented when it came to their bra-fitting needs.

Research found:

• The Black Community felt stores didn’t have enough availability to suit all shapes, sizes and skin tones.

• The Trans community didn’t feel comfortable using the in-store M&S fitting service due to the hate, dysmorphia and micro aggressions they can face.

• The disabled community felt M&S bras and ads perpetuated the idea that people with disabilities are sexless.

M&S needed to change this, create improved products and services that represent inclusivity and diversity, and in turn transform its business to open up new audiences.

Powerful insights told us we needed to transform our approach to be more authentic and inclusive of our three target audiences.

Trans Community: 

50% of respondents liked their breasts, 28% loved them. 28% didn’t like their breasts. 

60% said they’d use the online fitting service (a further 24% saying maybe) as it would make them feel more comfortable and less at risk from hate, dysmorphia or microaggressions than going in store – the main barriers for not getting fitted. 

57% rated 8-10 high probability they’d buy after a bra fit at M&S but 60% felt M&S didn’t represent their community. 

Black Community: 

52% said they felt M&S didn’t have enough variety of different shapes, sizes, skin tones. 

Disabled Community: 

“Mostly people with severe disabilities are viewed as sexless.” 

40% felt M&S didn’t represent their community: “I can't recall an ad or in store poster, that showed a disabled person.” 

Our insights turned into action.We didn’t just create an ad campaign, we also changed the service and how it is communicated to be more inclusive.

We ensured all our stores stocked the correct range of shapes, sizes and skin tones to meet the Black Communities needs.

We developed a new online fitting experience giving Trans people access to our bras and fitting service in a way that protected them from hate, dysmorphia and micro aggressions in-store.

And we used our communications to challenge the perception that having a disability meant you couldn’t be sexy – presenting a more progressive and inclusive viewpoint.

To promote good boob health, we added signage to more than 2,000 fitting rooms with guidance on the signs and symptoms of breast cancer.

Once the business changes had been made, we brought it all to life in a multichannel campaign celebrating the diversity of boobs.

Video, print, OOH, partnerships, social and influencer executions all encouraged women to ‘love your boobs, it starts with a bra fit’.

Our bespoke content partnership with The Stylist, explored our relationships with our boobs and we specifically targeted the Black, Trans and Disabled communities through an inclusive investment strategy. We built targeting segments in digital for our key audiences and used a blend of relevant content across mainstream publishers and a more inclusive list of media owners specific to each community.

To grab the headlines, we worked with body casting artist Lydia Reeves to launch an art installation on London’s South Bank featuring the casts of 16 M&S colleagues’ boobs, including women who underwent mastectomy surgery.

And the behind the scenes footage of the casting process we shared gained a huge volume of earned PR, with over 30 pieces of editorial coverage across leading consumer press.

Bra Fittings were up 83% YoY

There was a 150% increase in sales from fittings

62% joy sentiment towards the brand in post campaign research.

By taking an inclusive approach we fundamentally changed the M&S Bra business instead of just advertising it, opening up a whole new customer base to help it grow in the future.