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Victoria’s Secret?
Transparency Online
by Abe Sauer
May 28, 2010
Brandchannel’s Webwatch is now Digital Watch, a deeper look at digital branding strategy on the social Web. Our latest case study: Victoria’s Secret, which has stormed Facebook in one short year, and not just because of its scantily clad models. Although, of course, that doesn’t hurt...
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OVERVIEW
There should be no doubt that Victoria's Secret is a powerhouse fashion and retail brand. VS, which launched in 1977, is now the largest division and golden goose for parent company Limited Brands, which also operates the Bath & Body Works and La Senza chains.
The lingerie and clothing retailer has managed to maintain its very robust brand identity and positioning despite the recession, when lingerie may take a back seat to making ends meet. It has also managed to maintain consistent brand awareness and clout despite its size and expanding categories of offerings and brand extensions, including its collegiate collection and spinoff Pink brand. It's no small feat, and one that often humbles large, seemingly strong and in-control brands as they scale their business. The reward? Victoria's Secret is America's largest retailer of lingerie, with sales in the billions of dollars.
Another deft digital maneuver that humbles even bigger brands? Social media. Only a year after Victoria's Secret launched its Facebook-oriented online social media campaign in earnest, it's apparent that Victoria's particular secret is that she gets social media and she knows what works.
WEBSITE
Victoria's Secret has maintained a web presence for years. Victoriassecret.com is about what one would expect from the retailer, easy to navigate and e-commerce-focused. It is the perfect online realization of the brand's famous mail catalog. The site is a straightforward catalog of its wares, organized with categories, sales, new products, ordering information, and a store locator, amongst other now-standard features for e-commerce sites. Interesting, one thing it doesn't feature on the homepage: its social media touchpoints. For that, you have to find VS directly on Facebook, its primary social marketing platform.
Wisely, when it came to social media, the brand chose to go to the consumer instead of making the consumer come to the brand. Instead of forcing brand-champions to go to the Victoria's Secret site and set up a whole other proprietary account (a task far too many brand demand of users), the brand has focused its social media efforts on where its fans already are: Facebook (and, to a lesser extent given the limitations of the platform, Twitter).
SOCIAL MEDIA
While the brand's modern target consumer is decidedly female, this was not always the case. Indeed, the undergarments retail monster got its start in California in the late 1970s, legendarily, as the brainchild of a marketing expert who was embarrassed buying lingerie for his wife. So, as wild as it might seem, Victoria's Secret was originally, in part, positioned for the male consumer.
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All it takes is a simple look at the Victoria's Secret Facebook page to see this is no longer the case.
An immediate testament to the brand's social media activity is the more than 3.5 million Facebook fans, as in users that indicate they “like” the brand. If it were just that number alone, Victoria's Secret social media efforts could be declared a success. The brand has done more. Utilizing all the ins and outs offered to commercial Facebook users, including, most notably, customizable page tabs (such as Victoria's Secret "Bombshell" and "Swim '10.") The page encourages comments, and it gets them.
Also, the brand appears to take the "friend" part of social media "friending" to heart. Shying away from requiring fans do some of the less desirable aspects of social media, such as installing or downloading plug-ins, the brand has engaged fans and friends with creative rewards, such as free "like this" panties, a tremendously ingenious loss-leading promotion that connecting directly with its online following.
In addition to its perfectly-managed Facebook page, it also offers a separate Facebook page for its Pink brand. Interestingly, its Twitter presence is primarily promoting Pink, while its VS Twitter page is a placeholder.
The brand's youthful "Pink" brand extension's Twitter feed is a literal seminar in brand how-to Tweeting. It Tweets inside information and deals while at the same time making the real-time communication two-way by responding to Tweet-links and @s. It's not the one-way megaphone that many retail brands employ.
All that said, Victoria's Secret should be wary of fracturing its online presences too much. The brand's current stable of Facebook and Twitter pages for both the core and Pink brands rounds Victoria's Secret character out nicely. But the whole would probably suffer if the brand tried to replicate the individual success of these pages by adding more to the mix.
For example, a Victoria's Secret Angels Twitter and Facebook page would probably be popular, but not necessarily with the brand's retail customers, and would likely only muddy the currently focused social media engagement effort. Overall, Victoria's Secret has clearly enlisted some in-the-know social media managers and they are doing a bang-up job. With one notable exception.
Causing a bit of confusion is the brand's "All Access" site. While the Victoriassecret.com functions as its commerce and retail portal, Vsallaccess.com is the online branding arm. In other words, all things Victoria's Secret. It is here that fans and interested parties can check out its blog, connect to the brand on Facebook, download the Victoria's Secret iPhone app, and sign up for text and email alerts about exclusive offers. It's perfectly executed and shiny and pretty and commendably brand-appropriate except for one major flaw: it's invisible.
"Victoria's Secret All Access" commits the common online error of forgetting to account for how users will find the site. Yes, fans of Victoria's Secret may go instinctively to Victoriassecret.com; but there is no front-page link or portal driving to the brand's "All Access" site where these users can engage with the brand. The Vsallaccess.com site exists, beautifully, in a vacuum, theoretically awesome but functionally hobbled.
Sure, the VS Facebook page, on its "Info" page, drives to the All Access site, but there again is the problem of the closed loop. Victoria's Secret is missing a huge opportunity by not featuring the social media campaign it certainly takes great pains to maintain on the webpage its consumers and fans are most likely to visit.
It's a minor knock against a digitally savvy brand that has clearly taken great pains to create a smart (and, yes, sexy) social media presence.
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Abram D. Sauer has written about brands and branding trends since 2001. Visit www.abesauer.com for more of his work on branding and product placement.
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*Due to the constantly changing environment of websites, some reviews may no longer reflect the current website for this brand.
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Jul 16, 2010
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KIND Snacks - digital altruism -- Sheila Shayon
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Kind Snacks shows how a health food brand can craft a cause marketing campaign that combines social media, moxie, and random acts of pay-it-forward kindness between strangers.
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Jun 4, 2010
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Gatorade - Drink it up -- Mark J. Miller
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Gatorade’s digital marketing department is keeping extremely busy online. One of the main tools in their arsenal: the celebrity endorsement of big-name athletes.
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