According to Kotler and Armstrong’s Principles of Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications is, “carefully integrating and coordinating the company’s many communications channels to deliver a clear, consistent, and compelling message about the organization and its products” (401). This is a superior marketing model because it incorporates a central vision across all aspects of a company’s marketing mix in order to present the consumer with a single, unified message regarding that company’s product. Victoria’s Secret is a prime example of a company that effectively utilizes Integrated Marketing Communications. Through its combined use of television and magazine ads, snail mail and e-mail campaigns, Victoria’s Secret has used rational appeal to win the preference of female undergarment consumers and has successfully convinced a nation of its supremacy in the art of making female lingerie.

 A Sexy Approach

Across each of its various forms of advertising, Victoria’s Secret sends out a clear, undeniable message; they are sexy and they make sexy things that will in turn make you sexy if you buy them. Victoria’s Secret employs well-known supermodels clad in next-to-nothing intimates as their message “delivery boys.” These gorgeous women with perfect bodies (thanks in part to air brushing) take part in photo shoots set in exotic regions while wearing Victoria’s Secret brand bras, panties, lingerie and swimsuits. These beautiful and incredibly sexy photos are then posted across the internet, throughout dozens of magazines – including Victoria’s Secret’s own sales magazine, and are sent out in ad booklets for Victoria’s Secret Angel-Credit-Card-carrying women everywhere to receive with their monthly billing statements. Even the names of their different lines of bras and panties maintain the “sexy” message; with collections like VerySexy and Sexy Little Things, women are convinced that by purchasing and wearing these items they too can be sexy. 

 Not-So-Personal Communication

Although nearly every woman you speak with will confirm their preference for Victoria’s Secret undergarments to competitors’, Victoria’s Secret does not rely on word-of-mouth or buzz marketing tactics as much as they do non-personal communication channels. The majority of this non-personal communication is budgeted for print ad campaigns. Very rarely will you find a Victoria’s Secret ad in a newspaper, but there are plenty dotting the issues of nearly every major magazine in publication to date. Victoria’s Secret models can be seen strewn across billboards and even sneak their way into an inbox or two (or two-million) every day. As mentioned above, Victoria’s Secret also has their own catalog, which releases new issues monthly. This is an example of the company’s use of a pull-strategy. Victoria’s Secret does not rely on other retailers for the sale of their products, they do all the legwork themselves, and as such their primary focus is on getting the final consumer to purchase their products. By sending sales catalogs directly to members of their target consumer market, they are pulling potential clientele into their consumer network. Victoria’s Secret also sends monthly discount coupons to women (or men?) who are members of the Angel line of credit. These discount booklets further entice women to spend their money in Victoria’s Secret stores because for every purchase they make they can earn points toward winning a free pair of panties! This particular “point-earning” campaign has become very popular among many companies with their own in-store lines of credit, and Victoria’s Secret has definitely capitalized on this movement.

 An Emotional Appeal?

One might be inclined to determine that because Victoria’s Secret is a company geared primarily toward women that it would employ an emotional appeal for their marketing strategy. However, upon further consideration it is obvious that Victoria’s Secret utilizes a rational approach to appeal to their consumer market. Victoria’s Secret focuses on the arena of self-improvement and strives to “relate to their audience’s self-interest” (Kotler & Armstrong, 405), by showing their customer’s how much “sexier” they will be after shopping at Victoria’s Secret. Victoria’s Secret has structured their ad campaigns in a very one-sided format; they are the sexiest and none other compares. They have never presented their company as having any flaws of any sort, much to the contrary; Victoria’s Secret focuses on showing how flawless their company is via the use of supermodels with flawless bodies as spokes models. Victoria’s Secret recently began a new ad campaign with the slogan “What is Sexy?” which adds an even more mysterious air to the already “secretive” world of Victoria’s Secret products. Using this slogan allows consumers to draw their own conclusion of what “sexy” entails - or so they want us to think - and serves to entice women to come into Victoria’s Secret stores to find out what “sexy” is for themselves.

 The Survey

On the bottom of every sales receipt received after a Victoria’s Secret purchase transaction exists a phone number that one might call in order to participate in a “short” survey. Having taken a few of these surveys, this author can attest to the mundane nature of this form of information gathering. There are a few different versions of the survey, some are regarding the performance of sales personnel at the store where your purchases were made, others are inquiring about the performance of different Victoria’s Secret articles you have purchased in the past, and yet others are simply asking what you bought that day. These surveys are Victoria’s Secret’s means of obtaining feedback regarding a variety of factors relating to their company’s service. However, none of them are asking questions specific to the nature of Victoria’s Secret ad campaigns and how effective they were in encouraging one’s shopping habits, perhaps Victoria’s Secret should look into this.

Victoria’s Secret is known across the United States, and a majority of the world, as being the “sexiest provider of sexy undergarments,” primarily due to their very “sexy” ad campaigns. This company successfully conforms to the AIDA framework of creating effective messages that get attention, hold interest, arouse desire and obtain action from consumers. Through their use of Integrated Marketing Communications, Victoria’s Secret has successfully become, and remained the top-provider in sexy women’s sexy undergarments in the United States.