Bob Dylan Hawks Women's Panties for Victoria's Secret

Rocky Mountain News ^ | March 04, 2004

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

FORT COLLINS - Colorado State University students got to hear the serious side of selling frilly things.

Grace Nichols, president and chief executive officer of Victoria's Secret Stores since 1991, detailed the business of the famous lingerie retailer Wednesday as the keynote speaker for the school's Business Day.

"Behind the glamour, the supermodels and the public face, there is a business structure supporting all that," she said.

The brand's story begins 22 years ago, when Les Wexner wandered into a European-style lingerie boutique on a trip to San Francisco. Wexner, chairman and CEO of Limited Brands Inc., saw the potential to develop the concept into a large national chain, Nichols said. Soon after, Limited paid $1 million for the company.

Today, as the largest of Limited's brands, Victoria's Secret operates 920 U.S. stores and generated $3.5 billion in sales in 2002, including about $1 billion from online and catalog sales.

The picture was quite different in 1986, when Nichols joined the company as vice president and general merchandise manager.

"There were 100 stores, $100 million in sales, and the stores didn't make any money," she said.

Heavy discounting was common, she said, with the average bra selling at $12.

That began to change in 1993 with the first national advertising campaign, which included TV commercials and print ads. Since then, the company has grown to command a much bigger chunk of the $12 billion U.S. lingerie market.

Nichols showed the audience a clip of commercials, as well as a reel from all the free news and talk-show coverage of the company's world-famous fashion show.

The combination of advertising and public relations campaigns around the fashion shows spurred rapid growth in the 1990s, she said, and also allowed the company to stop heavy discounting.

Today, the average bra in Victoria's Secret sells for between $35 and $50, she said, and sales happen only twice a year, in January and June, to clear out seasonal items.

According to the company's annual report, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Victoria's Secret saw sales at stores open more than a year climb by 6 percent in 2002.

The company expects to see bigger jumps in the coming years, as it works on increasing the size of its stores in existing markets, Nichols said. More stores, which now average about 5,000 square feet or so, will take on the look of the 21,000-square- foot flagship Manhattan store.

In markets where the renovation and expansion have been done and customers have more to choose from, she said, sales have jumped by almost 50 percent.

Victoria's Secret expects future growth to come from its continued focus on core items - bras and panties - as well as its sub-brands, including its best- selling "Body by Victoria" line, which brings in $500 million in annual sales.

This year, the company launched a new sub-brand, called Pink! and aimed at 18- to 24-year-old women, slightly younger than the company's typical customers.

And Victoria's Secret plans another ad blitz beginning this month. The latest commercials will feature not only a song but a guest appearance by music legend Bob Dylan.

"We asked him to be in the commercials and he said yes, he would gladly go off to Venice with the supermodels," she said.

[mrsmith]

"She was workin' in a topless place
When I stopped in to sell bras.
She just kept looking at the wares in my case-
push-ups and underwires."

[rubofthebrush]

Me too. Got to see him in LA 2 yrs ago at the Wiltern-seats around 2000-and I was right upfront. WHAT A TREAT!! I saw him last summer also. His band is awesome. Walked out on CSN last year.Was so dissapointed in Neil Young doing the Greendale thing. Can't wait to see Dylan again this summer.

Can anyone tell me how to get to get good concert tickets?

[Moby Grape]

Gee whiz...even in my rerort to old cracker where I am playfully spanking him for correcting my typing, I screw up again...

The sentence was supposed to say "was and is"....

...so we are in agreement.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

BRRrrrrrrrppp!!!

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

No big deal, I sort of enoyed the, "...is a was a..." (try saying that 3 times fast)

It sounds like part of another incomprehensible rap song.

[rrrod]

"Behind the glamour, the supermodels and the public face, there is a business structure supporting all that," she said..... this just begs for a comment, but i shall refrain

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

[Xenalyte]

For years, I have been convinced that Tom Petty is Bob Dylan's son.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

Both Bob Dylan and Tom Petty are right up there with Willie Nelson. Self-obsessed, dope smoking geriatric rebels. Ha! Bob Dylan, the poster boy for the anti-establishment crowd has been reduced to doing ads for women's underwear. It is to laugh.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

Very attractive. Which is it, your mother, sister, or daughter? I know you must be proud. Although some might think it odd of you to post pictures of family members dressed in their underwear.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

I think it was a great commercial, a great balance of art, rock & roll and intimate pleasures.

[RightWingAtheist]

Or Tom Jones

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

Ladies, it's been fun but I have to go to work now. Have a great day! O.C.

[Hildy]

The last of the holdouts. For you youngsters out there, there was a time that no serious musician would EVER think of allowing his music to be part of a commercial. But now, since money is God, it's a mad scramble. I almost cried when I saw this. Bob Dylan in a Victoria's Secret Ad. The times they are a changin.

[kjam22]

I'm a huge Dylan fan. I enjoyed seeing him on the commercial. I think the song snippet they played was from his Grammy winning CD. "I'm sick of love".... while showing a V.S. model.

I thought it was pretty cool.

His next one should be "when you're tired of yourself and all of your creations, won't you come see me Queen Jane"

[SkyPilot]

Very attractive. Which is it, your mother, sister, or daughter?

You are sick.

[freebilly]

She was workin' in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept wond'rin' if she had enough dough
to buy a really good brassiere....

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

So if it were someone you loved, you wouldn't have posted it? Have you ever thought that, regardless whether the model was embarrassed or not, she might have family somewhere that might be ashamed of her career choice? You might laugh at my old fashioned attitude, but just imagine if that were a member of your family. What if it were your wife or girlfriend?

You're the one who posted the photo, not me. I was just trying to make you think. I may be old fashioned, but all this porn, be it soft or hardcore, is a cancer eating away at the core of our society.

[scholar]

Great work if ya can get it. Yeah, I wish those of us who actually work for a living could get even a small portion of those $$!!!!!

[Tweeker]

HAve a great time at tonight's show. Please post a review.

Here is a great quote from a recent Dylan article that shows why his shows are still in high demand:


He (Dylan) also hates focusing on the past. "I'm always trying to stay right square in the moment. I don't want to get nostalgic or narcissistic as a writer or a person. I think successful people don't dwell in the past. I think only losers do."