Lupita Nyong'o & Saoirse Ronan Launch CALVIN KLEIN WOMEN Fragrance | Key Analysts Say It's Game Over For Victoria's Secret
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On the face of it, one might not readily connect Calvin Klein choosing top-drawer actors Lupita Nyong'o and Saoirse Ronan to front its new scent Calvin Klein Women scent and Fast Company running a headline Tuesday titled 'The end of Victoria's Secret: Why analysts and readers say the brand is on its last lace.'
“It’s game over,” Jeffries analyst Randal Konik told Bloomberg about the world's biggest lingerie brand, pointing to declines in traffic, pricing power, and market share. Konik also said that he thought investors were ignoring these obvious warning signs and choosing to believe Victoria’s Secret is still a great brand.
That's a harsh statement about a great brand, one that I worked for over 10 great years. You know it's time to go, though, when your own vision for what women want are out of sync with the owners'. If there's anything wrong with Victoria's Secret, it's symbolized by the tawdry spectacle that is the annual Victoria's Secret fashion show. Just imagine if VS piled all those beautiful models on an airplane and took them on a supporting women and girls activism tour. Consider that the VS models who have made high-profile departures from the brand -- women like Karlie Kloss and Doutzen Kroes -- are women who embrace activism and justice as part of their DNAs.
Consider that American Eagle's lingerie brand Aerie has been eating Victoria's Secret's lunch for several years, and they just launched a new lingerie campaign that includes women with disabilities and chronic illnesses. To rave reviews, of course.
Calvin Klein channeled this modern mindset reality with their new campaign featuring Nyong'o and Ronan.
The campaign, directed by artist Anne Collier, features both striking, minimalist portraits of the award-winning actors alongside women they have personally been inspired by. Nyong'o chose Eartha Kitt and Katharine Hepburn, while Ronan picked Sissy Spacek and Nina Simone.
"The campaign is an exploration of femininity—a group of women bonded by a common thread; the desire to have the power to create their own identity, and to support and lead the way for those that come after them," Calvin Klein Chief Creative Director Raf Simons said in a press release. He explained that Women, which features notes of eucalyptus acorns, orange flower petals, and Alaskan cedarwood, is inspired by "freedom of expression" and "the transmission of strength and inspiration from woman to the next."
With his press release, Simons shares a pov about femininity that encompasses the dominant core values of today's young women.
“With this fragrance, we wanted to put the concept of plurality center stage. The campaign is an exploration of femininity – a group of women bonded by a common thread; the desire to have the power to create their own identity, and to support and lead the way for those that come after them.”
“CALVIN KLEIN WOMEN is inspired by the transmission of strength and inspiration from one woman to the next; by plurality combined with individuality; freedom of expression; and the notion that the collective is as vital as the individual.”
These are powerful statements about a fragrance and all that it represents. And in linking these CALVIN KLEIN WOMEN words to the problems at Victoria's Secret, I don't mean to minimize the challenges of a premium pricing strategy at VS that is fraught with problems in a marketplace where middle class wages are flat for decades; where critical competition exists from technology-related purchases that are the foundation of modern lifestyles; and allegations that VS quality has declined.
Calvin Klein is not selling sizzle, clearly evidenced by the Aerie-like photography of the new fragrance launch.
Nyong’o had kind words for fellow actor Ronan in a short video introducing the new campaign. “You’re such an intelligent and thoughtful actor. To be associated with you is really a honor,” she said. You could see those words in an Aerie campaign, but such a marketing strategy would fall on deaf ears at my alma mater.
