They photographed one bra in nearly 100 sizes | Cathy Berman

Cathy Berman is CMO at Bravissimo, a 30-year-old lingerie and swimwear retailer for women with D cups and above. Bravissimo has 25 UK stores, a growing US ecommerce business and is now part of Wacoal Europe. Cathy joined to prepare the company for its acquisition, improve its marketing and return the brand from decline to positive growth. To challenge misconceptions around sizing, Bravissimo photographed its bestselling bra in nearly 100 different sizes. The company says as many as 80% of women may be wearing the wrong bra size. Bravissimo also measures stores by customer compliments and complaints, not just sales. That focus influences everything from bra fittings and returns to virtual consultations, marketing and international expansion. ▸ Guest: Cathy Berman, CMO at Bravissimo ▸ Host: Noah Horner, Smarter at Dinner What we got into: ▪️ Photographing one bestselling bra in nearly 100 sizes ▪️ Why Bravissimo says around 80% of women may be wearing the wrong bra size ▪️ Why stores are measured by compliments and complaints ▪️ How personal bra fittings create unusually strong customer loyalty ▪️ Why lingerie should help women feel good for themselves, not somebody else ▪️ How authentic video storytelling outperformed a promotion-led campaign ▪️ Why Bravissimo rarely discounts ▪️ The cultural differences that undermined its original US strategy ▪️ Why American customers initially prefer smoother styles and muted colours ▪️ How virtual fittings improve conversion and long-term customer value ▪️ Using TikTok, affiliates and ambassadors to grow in the US ▪️ Why Bravissimo won’t use AI-generated product photography ▪️ Preparing Bravissimo and Wacoal’s brands for AI-driven search ⏱ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 — Introduction 0:05 — Cathy’s role at Bravissimo and Wacoal 1:05 — What Bravissimo does 1:54 — Measuring stores by compliments and complaints 4:09 — Making customer experience genuine 7:44 — Why so many women wear the wrong bra size 8:18 — Photographing one bra in nearly 100 sizes 10:47 — Marketing through mindsets, not demographics 12:31 — Campaigns that worked and failed 15:50 — Rebuilding Bravissimo’s US strategy 19:43 — Virtual fittings and customer lifetime value 21:05 — Scaling in the US 24:39 — Where Bravissimo will and won’t use AI 27:24 — The speed of change in AI search 28:46 — Growth opportunities across Wacoal’s brands 30:01 — Brands Cathy admires 31:39 — The company Cathy would love to lead ABOUT NOAH HORNER Noah Horner hosts Smarter at Dinner, a podcast interviewing CMOs and marketing leaders about how brands actually grow. He works in New Media & GTM at Passionfruit. #RetailMarketing #CustomerExperience #SmarterAtDinner