• by Christine Champagne , March 2, 2012

Wonderbra’s new Ultimate Plunge bra — its deepest cleavage bra to date — makes it possible for women to comfortably wear tops and dresses with plunging necklines. The look is popular on the red carpet these days among celebrities ranging from Jennifer Lopez to Jennifer Aniston. But, not surprisingly, many women are a little shy about showing so much skin. In fact, research shows that Wonderbra’s target demo of fashion-conscious females ages 18 to 25 won’t even bother to experiment with a new look when they don’t feel confident enough to pull it off.

So how do you empower these women to throw caution to the wind and embrace super-low necklines? Well, you could have them take the ultimate plunge. Maybe have a few women leap from a great height attached only to a bungee cord? But that would be crazy, right? Imagine the risk?

Fearless global creative agency Iris went ahead and orchestrated the outrageous stunt that had three brave — or perhaps insane, depending on your thinking — women performing a bungee jump in front of London’s Battersea Power Station. “The stunt represented women literally taking the plunge,” says Dawn Newman, senior account director for Iris PR.

The women who took the leap — Kate Hassen, Heidi Speed and Victoria Joint — had entered a Wonderbra Facebook contest that promised to present them with a daring challenge, but the entrants weren’t told the prize would be a bungee jump. They only found out after they won, and the randomly selected trio was eager to take part, according to Newman. “All three women had always wanted to do a bungee and were excited about being part of our unique launch,” she says.

The jumps couldn’t have been more spectacular. They took place last December at night so that the production crew could project a huge image of Wonderbra’s newest model — Slovakian knockout Adriana Cernanova — onto the side of Battersea Power Station to serve as a backdrop to the stunt. The daredevils were then hoisted above the projection in a basket attached to a crane, and one by one they leapt off, positioned so that it would appear as though they were diving into Cernanova’s cleavage.

One has to wonder if any of the jumpers, who were screened in advance for potential health issues, wanted to back out after they saw the imposing Battersea Power Station. “They were nervous beforehand,” Newman reports. “But once the adrenaline kicked in, they couldn’t wait — and did us proud.”

You need press on hand to document a publicity stunt, of course, so Iris invited photographers from national newspapers and photo agencies to capture the event, resulting in coverage in British newspapers including The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Evening Standard and The Daily Express.

The buzz surrounding the stunt served as a kicking-off point for a monthlong digital and pr engagement campaign, with Wonderbra reaching out to women via its Facebook page and other social media forums — that’s where their target gravitates for fashion and style ideas — and encouraging them to enter the Ultimate Plunge Style Challenge. The prize was a style consultation with Wonderbra ambassador and The Only Way Is Essex cast member Lydia Bright as well as a VIP night out in London. Bright also produced exclusive Facebook content for Wonderbra throughout the month of December and performed online product demos.

That said, Bright did not do any bungee jumping for Wonderbra.

You’d imagine Iris, which has created all sorts of inventive work for Wonderbra since 2005, including a 3-D billboard a couple of years back, might feel some pressure to top the bungee jumping stunt in the future. All Newman will say is that Iris’ goal is to “continually build on the creativity and engaging nature of our campaigns.” Translation: “You won’t believe what we’ll do next.”