Inside Bonds’ boldest campaign yet, and the insights that helped make it happen
Behind that headline moment was a team navigating both creative ambition and consumer expectations.
Few brands have stitched themselves so deeply into the national identity as Bonds. “You can find 12 Bonds items in the average Aussie household,” says Kedda Ghazarian with a smile. “You’ll find them in households from CEOs to farmers, parents to great-grandparents.” With over 110 years of heritage, Bonds is more than a household name. It’s a cultural staple.
But staying iconic in a competitive market takes more than legacy. It requires sharp instincts, relentless curiosity, and increasingly — access to fast, trustworthy consumer insights.
From humble beginnings making hosiery and singlets, Bonds has grown into something omnipresent. And that reach stretches across demographics. “Bonds is really unique in that [it] has really strong brand health across every demographic you speak to,” adds Suzanne Varigos, Head of Consumer Insights. “We are for everyone — [and] do a great job at actually kind of connecting with everybody.”
When Bonds began working with Robert Irwin, there were plenty of internal hunches about how it might land.
“We really hoped that he would come out really strongly, and then he did,” Suzanne says. “That was really great reinforcement.”
The results spoke for themselves. “It is definitely the most talked about Bonds campaign of all time,” Kedda confirms. “We had 9 billion impressions in the first 24 hours, which is a record.”
“It also feels almost surreal to say a billion in any stat. It’s like, what? That can’t be true. But yeah, it’s been really incredible,” she adds.
Beyond Bonds: What’s next?
While the team has used Ideally primarily on Bonds, they’re eyeing broader applications.
“I think that we are looking to in future expand the testing to other brands as well,” says Suzanne. “There would be great applications for Sheridan, Bras N Things, who are key brands in our portfolio.”
And with Bonds expanding into the U.S. market, the need for rapid, evidence-based decisions is only growing. “In this market we tend to work in the marketing space a bit more on gut,” says Kedda. “Now that we are entering the US market… there are probably more unknowns with that consumer.”
“I suspect we'll do more as we look to understand how certain things will resonate with people.”
The results spoke for themselves. “It is definitely the most talked about Bonds campaign of all time,” Kedda confirms. “We had 9 billion impressions in the first 24 hours, which is a record.”
“It also feels almost surreal to say a billion in any stat. It’s like, what? That can’t be true. But yeah, it’s been really incredible,” she adds.
Testing with Ideally
While the Robert Irwin campaign is a high-profile example, Kedda and Suzanne see Ideally as a consistent enabler for decision-making, not just reinforcing confidence in their ideas.
Ideally fits a more agile role: “There’s equally a lot of business challenges that we have day to day that you’re trying to work out… What's the right decision? Or validate a decision that you’re already about to make.”
Suzanne adds: “When it’s complete, it’s just all in there ready to go… There’s always lenses that we are approaching the data with… but it’s very useful that the summaries are produced that do look at where differences exist… it's just great that all of that is done automatically without us having to do all of that ourselves.”
For a brand that’s been in Aussie drawers for over a century, staying culturally sharp means moving quickly, and asking the right questions at the right time.
