PR PLAY OF THE WEEK: Saks taps twins to lift new Ultimo bra

of the Week trophy on its mantle.

According to publicity director Michael Macko, the retailer was looking

for a clever way to hype the Ultimo Bra, a new cleavage-enhancing bra it

rolled into the States last week. But with no sag in sight for the bra

market - no pun intended - Saks wanted its new offering to stand out

from the crowd.

The company decided the best PR play for the Ultimo Bra would be to use

twins to show the difference between users and non-users. One twin would

wear the Ultimo Bra, the other would wear a generic model. People would

weep in the streets.

Alas, the plan wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Unable to find a suitable

pair of twins - pun very much intended - in New York, Saks brought over

the original Ultimo twins from Scotland, dressed them in bras and kilts

and put them in front of its flagship Fifth Avenue store last Tuesday

morning.

’We virtually stopped traffic on Fifth Avenue,’ Macko said. CNN (whose

reporter asked the models to switch bras to make sure the Ultimo was

really the cause of the difference in their appearances) chronicled the

festivities, as did Inside Edition and the local ABC affiliate.

Macko timed his bra busting-out party for TV’s sweeps period, knowing

what plays well during these ratings-sensitive times. ’It’s not a

coincidence that we launched in May,’ he says.

The twins have returned to Scotland, but the PR lift they’ve given the

dollars 58 Ultimo Bra isn’t over: ’We’ll get national pick-up,’ Macko

predicted.