Brand Identity - Victoria's Secret

Brand: Victoria’s Secret

            The brand Victoria’s Secret was founded in 1977 by a man named Roy Raymond. He originally created this chain of lingerie stores for men like him who felt embarrassed to buy women’s lingerie in a store. So he created the stores so men would feel comfortable buying it for their wives or girlfriends. Over the years Victoria’s Secret has rebranded, and has also changed their target audience. In the beginning it was targeted at men to buy for their significant others whereas now it is targeted towards the one who will be wearing it. Another major part of Victoria’s Secret is their line PINK, this consists of merchandise, underwear, swimwear and loungewear. PINK is targeted towards 15-22 year olds as the look itself is young and it helps eases fans of Victoria’s Secret into the older lines like Angels and Body by Victoria. The brand and company say that their consumers like to look good while being comfortable.

How the brand identity is created:

Advertisements for Victoria’s Secret can be found in a number of places. For example:

o   Television – In TV spots for Victoria’s Secret you will typically see beautiful and thin young women dressed in the merchandise walking, standing or laying on a couch posing while showing off the lingerie. There would typically be a voice over of announcing a new product or talking of a sale. TV Spot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgevj0oraDw (announcing a sale, also showing other products)

o   Billboard – This isn’t one of their main ways of advertising but they still do it. One of the places where a Victoria’s Secret billboard can be found is in Time Square in New York.

o   Radio – Since there isn’t a Victoria’s Secret store or outlet in Trinidad I am not aware if there are radio advertisements. However with research I found that there are promotions, the company has their “Angels” visiting radio stations promoting their favorite music selections, and by doing this they are also promoting their brand at the same time

o   Magazine – In different women magazines there are print ads for Victoria’s Secret, in these ads you will typically see a young women wearing the merchandise, in the ad they may show a special sale, coupon or even just showing off the brand   

o   Other - There are Victoria’s Secret catalogues that are quite famous. This is probably their main way of advertising; they receive a considerable amount of sales from their catalogues that get sent out in the mail.

In my opinion, the brand identity of Victoria’s Secret doesn’t have a significant impact, because I am not greatly concerned about the physiques or beauty of the models used. The fore-going concerns are not the deciding factors for purchase of this brand. What is making me buy the product is the quality and the overall design of it.  This relates to my personal “brand identity” because in the LOVE PINK section they use a lot of pink, other bright colours and a variety of animal prints. I enjoy these patterns and wear a lot of them in my everyday life. So that is how it relates to my personal brand identity. To the world I portray myself to be “fun” and “bubbly” and I think the brand of Victoria’s Secret adds to this.