Victoria’s real secret is that she hires aspiring businesswomen as interns to reach college demographics.
Sarah Fallon, a sophomore in the College of Nursing, and Mary Newby, a junior in the College of Business Administration, are the new representatives and a part of management of PINK Marquette for the 2016-’17 school year.
PINK originated on college campuses before opening stores nationwide. Fallon said PINK as a brand really loves to focus on the college-aged girl.
“They thought that the best way to interact with (this group) and get their opinions was through getting brand reps from different colleges,” Fallon said. This allows PINK to gain insight on each particular campus’s preferences on clothing and to promote PINK on campus.
“PINK is trying to reach a much broader range of girls,” Newby said. “PINK is for all walks of the campus and college experience.”
The new PINK Marquette initiatives planned for the 2016 fall semester bring back classic traditions such as the Victoria Secret Fashion Show Viewing Party, as well as trying out some new promotions including a focus on PINK body mists.
“We have a new fragrance, it’s called PINK Cool & Bright Body Mist,” Newby said.
The student reps plan all the events that will be happening in the future such as the PINK Panty Party and PINK Scavenger Hunt. There are four events planned for the year so far.
“They all include freebies and usually food,” Fallon said.
For the scavenger hunt, the reps are mixing tradition with new additions.
“We looked at things that did work and didn’t work in the past and that’s really all that new management is doing,” Fallon said. “(We are) making sure that we’re having new, innovative ideas at the same time.”
“(Former reps) Catt (Podlogar) and Lauren (Escobar) were great and told us all their secrets (for the scavenger hunt),” Newby said.
Another potential event would be an on-campus concert. If enough Marquette students participate in Campus Showdown, a current PINK-inspired game from the brand, Marquette could be entered to have an on-campus concert. However, Big Ten schools usually win.
“We could actually have a really cool concert here on campus thrown for us by PINK,” Fallon said. “Last year it was Zedd.”
The top highlight to look forward to this year is the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Viewing Party. Fallon loved the idea of getting “a group of girls together on campus that never see each other otherwise.”
Newby said the viewing party in December is during finals week, will have a study break theme and feature a ton of giveaways with prizes such as water bottles and phone cases. There will be a Campus Welcome Party where they will hand out freebies including body mists, sports bras, panties and leggings.
“I’m in the business school and I very much know I’m interested in retail, so I really tried to stick my foot in the door,” Newby said. “PINK Marquette has given me a lot of experience in the retail world and shown me how to reach that customer.”
While PINK Marquette has proved a great learning experience for Newby, she believes she has a lot to bring to the table. Because Newby is a female college student, she said she knows the Marquette customer well.
Fallon, along with her co-rep Newby, participated in extensive training and had an opportunity to meet 200 PINK campus reps in a brand-training excursion to Columbus, Ohio, for three days.
Newby’s takeaways were the invaluable skills she acquired.
“You get to meet a lot of really cool women from across the nation and gain perspective (on) what their school’s marketing is like,” Newby said. “They went over the ins and outs of how to market PINK to our particular school, event planning, management, how to manage a team and also learn about what was important to PINK as a brand itself and to make sure our values were in line with theirs.”
Both women said the best way for students to get discounts on PINK Marquette clothing and accessories was through social media.
The company has an app, PINK Nation, that lets customers play games to win promotions. “It’s a really cute and fun app, and also if you’re a PINK Nation Member you get special deals like gift with purchases and insight on new lines before the public gets to see them,” Newby said.
Connecting with students on social media and in person has this pair of reps tickled pink to start the new year.
