A week shy of its annual fashion show, Victoria's Secret lured beauty editors to a preview of the new fragrance collection for its Pink brand with short, prop-heavy presentations and mountains of candy. But instead of the usual show and tell, the Thursday event at the New York office of Limited Brands relied on models, rather than brand representatives, to articulate and embody the concept behind the three scents, Hope Pink, Wish Pink, and Live Pink.
Starting at 9 a.m., the presentation was broken into four one-and-a-half-hour sessions and hosted about 80 editors—roughly 20 per time slot—from publications such as Vogue, Marie Claire, Vanity Fair, and Seventeen. To produce the event and build an appropriate setting in a space typically used as a conference room, Victoria's Secret Beauty director of public relations Allison Greenberg brought in Patrick Martinez of City Iris.
As each fragrance was developed to represent a different type of Pink customer—a free spirit for Hope, a girly girl for Wish, and an artsy type for Live—the planning team cast models to act out these personalities inside themed sets. Thoroughly briefed and scripted on their distinct characters, the models became living, talking props as they passed out scent strips and guided editors through the lifestyle of their specific consumer profile.
To drive home the concept, the vignette for each model was styled as an apartment, complete with beds, dressers stuffed with clothes, weathered wooden tables, and other accoutrements. Nibbles from caterer Marcey Brownstein added to each motif, with free-range lemon and basil chicken for the hippie-style Hope, tea sandwiches and bite-sized deviled eggs for the preppy Wish, and miniature doughnuts and seaweed and edamame salad in takeout containers for the creative Live girl. Editors even received themed gifts from each set as a memorable token of each personality—Hope handed out handbags made from recycled vinyl billboards, Wish gave pearl necklaces, and artist Bruno Grizzo painted watercolor portraits at Live's station.
There was, of course, a more formal discussion at the rear of the space, where Victoria's Secret Beauty executives talked more specifically about the notes, the packaging, and the corresponding products for the fragrances. In a nod to the brand's young demographic, this area held more functional props—picnic tables heavy with color-coordinated candy and metal lockers stocked with sweaters and pants. Encouraged to fill Pink-branded bags with the piles of sweets and clothing, the editors toted home plenty of souvenirs as a reminder of the event, the company, and the target audience.
