Victoria’s Secret, the longstanding American lingerie brand, recently announced its transformation from peddling barely there underwear modelled by leggy, size-zero ‘Angels’ in its infamous catwalk show, to a newly named ‘VS Collective’. This collective includes transgender model Valentina Sampaio, South Sudanese model Adut Akech and body-positivity advocate Paloma Elsesser. The brand’s new-and-improved mission? To be “the world’s leading advocate for women.”
We asked our Slack channel for their opinions on the shift and the general consensus was: it’s a little too late. A response to falling sales rather than a genuine cultural pivot. A classic case of prioritising marketing over brand. “It would be a credible shift in brand identity only if customers had zero memory, loyalty, emotional connection with the brands they love,” said one Wordsmith. While another played angel’s advocate: "Isn’t it just a teeny bit wonderful? They have been creating and maintaining dangerously unrealistic ideals for years, actively detracting from any steps forward in female empowerment. But people have said no more, sales have dropped, and they had no choice but to move with the times.”
It should be obvious, but there’s a big difference between a rebrand and a campaign. And the new Victoria’s Secret direction might be blurring the two. Yes, there’s room for constantly improving your brand, reacting to movements and being more inclusive. But not when it feels like a thinly veiled attempt to boost sales. If you’re going to change your entire brand mission, it needs to be felt in every part of the business. While Victoria’s Secret is matching its rebrand with new management, a more inclusive size range is yet to be seen.
What might have made this rebrand more authentic is for Victoria’s Secret to acknowledge that what it stood for in the past wasn’t good enough. That it’s still working towards inclusivity, representation and advocating for all bodies, rather than just dreaming up a new name for its model community.
The Advice
“It's tempting for brands to try and regain relevance by championing a cause, but please don't do it. You have to lay the groundwork in advance and build trust with your consumer on the issue you want to support. You have to show that the cause is indeed part of the DNA of your organisation. Brands must match their marketing changes with organisational changes. So how are you internally branding your organisation?”
Taken from a piece written by Jeetendr Sehdev for Forbes on the Victoria’s Secret rebrand.
Chloé Pierre is on a mission to democratise wellness and show real, authentic inclusivity through conversation and collaboration. As the founder of self-care platform thy.self, Chloé takes as much inspiration from the brands getting it right as the ones who might have missed the mark: “I’m inspired by brands that don’t get it right. I dissect and examine their losses and mentally take note to apply that to campaigns I work on.” We spoke to Chloé about making wellness accessible, content creation and listening to your audience.
Womanhood is a business that has built its entire brand on celebrating womxn in all their forms, from making inclusive size ranges to only selling female-founded lingerie brands that align with its values. As it says on its website: “It’s no longer about choosing between comfort, style or designs that only cater to the male gaze. It’s about representation, authenticity and womxn reclaiming their bodies.” You’ll see it in its ‘models’, who are simply womxn from their community, showing all kinds of bodies. Challenging the outdated notion of what ‘sexy’ looks like, they celebrate what it feels like instead. No need to create a ‘collective’. The brand encourages everyone to be part of its community by representing them in all their strong, naked glory.
Imagine you’re putting out the rebrand statement for Victoria’s Secret. How would you show a more authentic and less reactive transformation?
Think about what their category means to women, how you would need to address your size range and how you could show inclusivity outside of the newly formed VS Collective.
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