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Ana Rosal

Entertainment PR Final Project

12/5/19

Reviving Victoria’s Secret

If you’ve ever walked into a suburban mall, chances are you’ve probably seen a

Victoria’s Secret store. Whether you’ve gone in or you just passed by, the iconic and black boudoir-style interior is essential to the brand. This once trendy store is now slipping through the cracks. Due to lack of inclusivity and failure to be on the forefront of key trends, Victoria’s

Secret has lost its reputation as a symbol of female empowerment. So what led to this brand’s demise?

In 1995, Victoria’s Secret soon launched their annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show that aired on live television. It became a ratings powerhouse when millions tuned in to see the new collections. This fashion show even launched the careers of many famous , including , , and . Any girl who dreamed of being a also dreamed of walking in this infamous show. In 2012, Victoria’s Secret was the most buzzed brand. However, this is also when things started to decline for the brand.

By 2012, other underwear brands such as Aerie and ThirdLove started to creep into the market. These brands were promoting body positivity and inclusivity within their advertising and it was revolutionary. For the first time, many women saw themselves in advertisements for bras Rosal 2 and panties, which quickly changed their brand loyalties. This was also the time when athleisure started to become a huge trend, which is something that Victoria’s Secret was late to the game to.

At this point, women preferred comfortable bralettes over strappy push-up bras. By the time

Victoria’s Secret released sports leggings and bralettes, the market was already crowded with other companies who had gotten there first. The brand’s products weren’t really resonating with women anymore.

Things really started to fall apart in 2018 when Ed Razek, former CMO of , said he doesn’t think the company should include a transgender or plus-size for the annual fashion show since it’s supposed to be “a fantasy”. Although after receiving backlash for his comment, he issued an apology claiming that we would “absolutely hire a transgender model”, but the damage was already done. People took to social media to encourage others to boycott the brand. Even singer Halsey, despite performing in the 2018 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, took to Twitter to discuss her disgust for the comments made by the former CMO.

Back in August of 2019, Ed Razek announced that he would be resigning as CMO.

Within the past year, the company had laid off a significant amount of employees and they are currently sitting in the ruins of what once was an empowering, revolutionary brand. In

September 2019, Victoria’s Secret announced a collaboration collection with LA-based brand

For Love and Lemons, a lingerie company that values confidence and femininity, and is known for their colorful floral-embroidered lingerie. In October 2019, Victoria’s Secret partnered with

UK-based lingerie brand Bluebella, in which they included transgender models in the ads. Rosal 3

Despite these collaborations, in November of 2019, it was announced that the 2019

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show was officially cancelled due to low ratings and internal conflict.

In the statement, the company mentioned that network television was “no longer the right fit”.

Also in November 2019, Barrington Capital Group released a letter to L Brands, detailing their recommendations on how the company can address a number of challenges:

“[W]e recommend that the company take swift action to improve the performance of Victoria’s

Secret, by, among other things, correcting past merchandising mistakes and ensuring that

Victoria’s Secret is communicating a compelling, up-to-date brand image that resonates with today’s consumers,” the letter said.

As of right now, many believe that the Victoria’s Secret brand is dead, especially taking into consideration the massive success of Savage X Fenty, Rihanna’s lingerie brand, and the iconic fashion show (which was streamed on Amazon) that created a huge buzz for the brand.

Even former VS supermodel Gigi Hadid said that she “never felt that powerful” walking at the ​ Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show compared to the Savage X Fenty show. But the good news is, ​ there might be a way to salvage the Victoria’s Secret image.

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The Solutions

#VSForAll

The first idea is to incorporate transgender models and plus-size women across all advertisements, both print and digital. This, frankly, should have been done a long time ago. The typical skinny and perfect Victoria’s Secret bombshell just doesn’t resonate with consumers anymore, so this would be a good step toward incorporating inclusivity into the brand’s values.

This campaign, #VSForAll, would translate to social media where different people, even including throwback VS models like Tyra Banks and , would talk about when they bought their first Victoria’s Secret bra. Nostalgia is a huge trend and I believe if Victoria’s Secret can incorporate that in their marketing, it could garner a lot of attention.

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Festival

Rather than catching up to their competitors, it would be smart for Victoria’s Secret to get ahead of their competitors, especially by doing something that has never been done before. The brand can combine fashion and music by introducing the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Festival. The type of artists who headline would include Doja Cat, Kehlani, Kasey Musgraves, Lizzo, and Ariana

Grande (who previously performed in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show); all female artists who embody individuality, confidence, and empowerment. There would be one mainstage for

A-list headliners, and various other stages for smaller, up-and-coming female artists. Each stage would showcase different collections, much like in the past Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show where the models would walk while the guest artist would perform. Rosal 5

Not only would there be various pop-up booths selling different VS products (everything from bras and underwear to water bottles and perfume) but there will also be different themed photo areas where people can take photos and post on social media using the hashtag

#VSFashionFestival2020. This really gives people the opportunity to fully experience the brand, one that they can’t even get when they go in the Victoria’s Secret store. And lastly, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to an LGBTQ+ organization to show that VS really does value everyone, and this would also be a great incentive for people to buy tickets.

I believe that if Victoria’s Secret starts to take steps in the right direction, and leap ahead of their competitors, they could potentially make it on top again. This isn’t the end of Victoria’s Secret, it’s simply a new era.

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Works Cited

https://www.wsj.com/articles/victorias-secret-parents-longtime-marketing-chief-to-resign -11565038660 https://www.tmz.com/2018/12/03/halsey-slams-victorias-secret-fashion-show-lacks-inclu sion-trans-lgbtq/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/korihale/2019/11/30/rihanna-killed-victorias-secrets-fashio n-show-business/#1857db2366b5 https://www.eonline.com/news/1095862/sorry-angels-the-2019-victoria-s-secret-fashion- show-is-officially-cancelled https://www.marketwatch.com/story/victorias-secret-fashion-show-canceled-as-talk-of-a- spinoff-or-bath-body-works-ipo-arises-again-2019-11-22 https://www.elle.com/fashion/shopping/a29438333/victorias-secrets-bluebella-campaig n-inclusivity/?utm_campaign=socialflowTWELM&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=soc ial-media

“The Rise and Fall of Victoria’s Secret” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvCP7yxQf_g ​ ​ https://www.buzzfeed.com/jamedjackson/halsey-victorias-secret-fashion-show-controve rsy

Tweets: https://twitter.com/thholyghost/status/1199642402933198849 https://twitter.com/em_sully_/status/1200098632030179328 https://twitter.com/YousefBabb/status/1200570686881878016 https://twitter.com/jamiedelreyy/status/1201711775030423553 https://twitter.com/MarcosSOTS/status/1201711810187005952