Last period, the exclusive acquired its highest possible place in a several decades, 11.5 million viewers, and most of them women. VS “Angels,” a base of the brand’s image, are also provided in publications, in-store and in promotion, while its website features a “VS All Access” place about them, a history that contains designs Adriana Lima, Miranda Kerr and graduate students Tyra Banking organizations, Gisele Bundchen and Heidi Klum.
As Bloomberg places it, “Unlike producers that use celebrities to market their clothing or design new selections, acting for Victoria’s Key produces careers.”
The TV show is “essentially an hour-long expert, and really, that is remarkable,” said Erika Maschmeyer, expert at David W. Baird & Co. to Bloomberg. “There are a lot of places to buy lingerie, but there is no other place that has such a highly effective item importance to it and I think the design show is definitely a element of that.”
Viewers can’t buy the elaborate costumes designed around themes like “Circus,” “Calendar Girls” and “Silver Screen Angels,” but the allure works as their online and catalog sales rose 4% to $1.56 billion last year, and overall revenue at Victoria’s Secret’s 1,000-plus stores rose 14% to $4.56 billion.
“One model wears a multi-million dollar bra gift set in the show each year, an illustration of the event’s opulence and the brand’s aspirational nature. This year’s set, valued at $2.5 million, was made with more than 5,200 precious gems, including sapphires, rubies and diamonds, in 18-karat rose and yellow gold,” reports Bloomberg.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2012 airs on CBS, Tuesday, Dec. 4th, 10/9c. Too bad there’s only one bra available for $2.5 million.
VS is parent company Limited’s largest brand (followed by Bath & Body Works) and its chief executive officer, Les Wexner, is the longest-tenured CEO in the S&P 500, with successful spin-offs including the Limited stores, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Express Inc.
“The models chosen are very specifically ones that women can relate to or feel comfortable around and have personalities,” said, Marcie Merriman, director of brand strategy and planning for Victoria’s Secret from 2001 to 2003. Both Klum and Banks have hosted television shows.
The fashion show costs about $12 million to produce but “pays for itself” in marketing reverb, as Jennifer Davis, analyst with Lazard Capital Markets told Bloomberg.
The VS brand is still reeling from last year’s scandal, “Victoria’s Secret Revealed in Child Picking Organic Cotton,” also reported by Bloomberg last year.
“By the time Clarisse picked her first harvest in 2010, Victoria's Secret was becoming the fair trade program's only buyer instead of the most prominent, according to Georges Guebre, the program's leader. An executive for Victoria's Secret’s parent company says the amount of cotton it buys from Burkina Faso is minimal, but it takes the child-labor allegations seriously.”
