Brand Comparison report for my social media marketing strategy class at UGA comparing the digital strategies of Aerie and Victoria's Secret

1. vs
B R A N D
C O M P A R I S O N
R E P O R T
PREPARED BY:
HALEY IACUELE
MARCH 2018

2. T a b l e
o f
c o n t e n t s
introduction
brand overviews
audience
recent campaigns
goals & strategies
platforms
social media metrics
final thoughts
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4-5
6
7
8-9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16-17
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website
facebook
instagram
twitter
email
influencers

3. i n t r o d u c t i o n
Victoria's Secret aerie
But who's
doing it
best?
Women are targeted by thousands of ads every single
day. Aerie and Victoria's Secret are two companies that
manage to make their ads stand out, yet do so in such
different ways. Victoria's Secret has been a big name in
the lingerie game for years and is known for their
beautiful models and sex appeal. Aerie is new to the
scene, but is making a name for themselves by promising
not to retouch photos and use models who are relatable
to a wider variety of women. In this report, I will
compare the two brands' strategies and make a judgment
on whose digital strategy is going further towards their
goals.
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4. victoria's secret
s e d u c t i v e & l u x u r i o u s :
4
Victoria's Secret was founded in 1977 by Roy Raymond and his
wife, Gaye. Gaye was inspired by her frustration with the
matronly packed undergarments available at the time. The first
store in California was a huge success, and by 1986 VS was the
only national lingerie chain. However, the brand's quality
suffered because of the rapid expansion.
In 2000, under the guidance of new Chief Executive Sharen
Jester Turney, VS changed their marketing strategy. His vision
was to go from what he considered "substitute dorm room
PlayBoy" to a more luxury product that would appeal to higher
income women while still maintaining the sensuality the brand
was built on. This new model was extremely successful for
many years, but sales have been dwindling as of late.
2017 was not a good year for Victoria's Secret. Sales declined
every single month this past year. Many blame this on the
brand's questionable decision to eliminate the extremely
successful swimwear line and replace it with activewear. Some
point to new, more affordable competitors as the culprit. Either
way, other competitors are seeing this moment of weakness for
VS and sweeping in with their own marketing approach.

5. aerie
s w e e t & p l a y f u l : 5
Aerie was launched by its parent company, American Eagle, in
2006 (a strategic move in response to the beginning of Victoria's
Secrets' decline, perhaps?). The brand carries underwear,
loungewear, swimwear, and activewear. It does not, however,
carry any of the more strictly lingerie items that Victoria's
Secret offers.
Aerie is best known for their body positive ad campaigns. They
use models who are diverse in both ethnicity and body type and
do not retouch photos. This was a brave move for a company
trying to sell underwear and swimwear, but has paid off
tremendously. Aerie has managed to shift their brand image to
match this new strategy and it's working well and garnering a
lot of public support. In fact, Aerie is on its 14th consecutive
quarter of positive growth!

6. a u d i e n c e
Middle/uppermiddleClass
millennialwomen
Victoria's Secret appeals to the confident
woman looking to treat herself. Their
prices are high enough to convey a sense of
luxury but not high enough to deter the
middle class. This customer is more label-
conscious than her Aerie-shopping
counterpart.
MiddleClassmen
shoppingforwomen
VS has often come under fire from
customers wondering if their sexy ads are
meant to appeal to women or men. The
answer is both. More than half the reviews
on VS products are from straight men. This
customer is not a very educated buyer and
is easily influenced to purchase.
millennialwomen
Aerie has hit the jackpot as far as marketing to
millennial women. Millennials love a good
cause and Aerie is one of the few lingerie
brands that offers one. Aerie is less sexy and
more comfortable-cute, which is a trend
millennials are embracing for everyday life (as
opposed to special occasion lingerie). This
consumer is budget conscious and very engaged
in Aerie's content.
girls15-18
(andtheirparents)
Aerie's underwear has a very sweet and
modest vibe when compared to VS. Since
younger girls living at home are not
typically made to purchase their own
underwear, Aerie is a brand parents would
feel comfortable letting them shop at.
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7. r e c e n t
c a m p a i g n s
Sexy Illusions
real
The "Sexy Illusions" campaign focuses on
both functionality and sex appeal. The
pieces are advertised as being invisible
under clothing and comfortable with the
same beautiful aesthetic VS is known for.
The photos for the campaign all have an
air of luxury but also showcase the
technical features of the bras.
The aerieREAL campaign represents a
huge turning point for the brand. This
ongoing campaign celebrates diversity and
appeals to women's desire to feel included
and support a cause. The images are
typically playful and cute rather than
luxurious.
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8. victoria's secret
g o a l s & s t r a t e g i e s
goals
strategies
Appeal to women's desire to feel
feminine
Continue international expansion
Recover status as a profitable,
growing business
Use of feminine language and pink,
lace, silk, etc, in social media posts
Victoria's Secret Fashion Show ----
Often the international locations
preface an expansion
Maintains "aloof" brand image
(doesn't retweet customers, etc)
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9. aerie
g o a l s & s t r a t e g i e s
goals
st
Corporate Social Responsibility
Gain more followers and loyal
customers
Continue crafting brand image as a
positive, playful, and authentic
company
Involvement in Body Positivity
movement
Working with passionate celebrities
Content creation
Include followers in the conversation
---create a community
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strategies

10. website
Aerie's website also mirrors the vibe of the rest of the brand by being fun and playful.
They also advertise the sales they have going on front and center, but keep the self-love
theme central as well. They have a grid of photos submitted by fans to Instagram of
themselves wearing Aerie bikinis, which is a great touch. It's interesting to note that
Aerie does not have its own website, but is part of the American Eagle website. It's easy
and seamless to shop between the two stores, which helps drive sales.
Victoria's Secret's website mainly focuses on advertising their deals for the day or
new releases. It has a lot of rich jewel tones and black, creating an air of luxury.
Everywhere you look are reminders about what's on sale; clearly they push
consumers to complete the purchase and not abandon their cart.
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11. facebook
Victoria's Secret's Facebook page follows their usual sexy marketing strategies. They
also have a good mix of content: Advertising sales, prompting followers to tag friends,
and answering customer questions. Their "very responsive" rating shows that they
respond to customers quickly. Some of their content seems like it's trying a bit to hard
to go after their target demographic and missing the mark ("Dear Monday, we can't").
The Facebook Page has less focus on the models than the Instagram page, which
makes sense because people usually follow Facebook pages for information.
Aerie's Facebook page is on-brand with their color scheme of grays and pastels. They
have less of a content mix and almost exclusively advertise sales. What's interesting is
that Aerie has so much more customer engagement without trying. People are tagging
their friends and even answering product questions that strangers ask. However, they
have significantly less followers than VS.
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12. instagram
Aerie's Instagram feed features a lot of soft pinks and greens. They have minimal
edited graphics (such as sales announcements) and mostly feature flat lays and model
photos. They have started doing some work with celebrities to photograph them and
not retouch them. They are also utilizing content marketing through playlists and blog
posts. Aerie's followers are very engaged and tag their friends.
Victoria's Secret's Instagram page has the same content as their Facebook, down to the
captions. There are a few more pictures and some more risqué photos, but it is clear
that the Facebook content is pulled directly from the Instagram. Again, Victoria's
Secret has many, many more followers than Aerie.
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13. twitter
Aerie's Twitter content consists posts that link back to their blog, sale announcements,
and retweets from happy customers. Aerie's customers do a lot of their marketing for
them, since they have such a strong brand loyalty. Again, they have less followers than
VS.
Again, Victoria's Secret's Instagram as the same content as their other platforms. They
do not retweet customers or other companies. They focus on the aesthetics of the
models and promoting sales and the brand image.
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14. email
Aerie's emails are slightly less effective to me than VS. They don't offer exclusive deals and
their re-marketing technique is a little "beggy" to me and it's generally more effective to
reel people back in with a bargain. However, they do advertise the unique content Aerie
has such as panels and blog posts.
Victoria's Secret's email program actually has a ton of perks. On a personal note, I've
always been annoyed by their expensive shipping. To find that you can get shipping
coupons by signing up for their emails was a real selling point to me. They also
advertise sales and offer exclusive deals.
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15. influencers
PassionateCelebrities
In my opinion, the VS Angels are the main
marketing strategy employed by Victoria's
Secret and they make up for a lot of other
places where the company is lacking. These
women are completely unattainable to the
average girl and we are fascinated by them.
Customers follow them independently of
Victoria's Secret and in doing so get a first
person glimpse into their luxurious lives.
This luxury is extended onto VS by association. Men are not immune to this, either. Many of
VS's social media followers are male and men buy this underwear for the special ladies in their
lives because of the sex appeal of the models. Central to this strategy is the Victoria's Secret
Fashion Show, which generates massive interest in the brand and takes over social media once
a year.
Aerie has recently increased their use of
Influencer marketing. When Aly Raisman
began speaking up about her experience with
sexual abuse as a US Gymnast, Aerie saw the
opportunity to work with her. They also work
with singers and actresses. In this way, they
are appealing to these people's already existing
fans. Attempting to build their own celebrities
like Victoria's Secret has done would not work since it's already been done. Choosing celebrities
who align with their values is a win-win model because the celebrities get a positive image as
well.
Influencer Marketing: brands use an
individual's image and following to shape
their own
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VSAngels

16. VS
Strength
Sentiment
Passion
Reach
51%
9:1
9%
47%
AERIE
55%
17:1
28%
44%
SOCIAL METRICS SCORING SYSTEM
strength: likelihood the brand is being talked about on social media at
a given time.
sentiment: ratio of positive to negative comments
passion: likelihood people talking about the brand will continue to do so
reach: unique commenters / # of mentions
Social Media Metrics
FOLLOWERS
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
VSAERIE
1.9M
823K
105K
27.8M
58.7M
11.50M
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17. Social Media Metrics
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Passion
Again, Aerie has much more passionate followers. This is not surprising because
Aerie has a cause behind it which invokes passion from followers. While a
brand can certainly gain passionate supporters by having an amazing product,
it's definitely easier to sell a social cause.
strength
Aerie has a slightly higher strength rating than Victoria's Secret, which is
shocking considering how many more followers VS has across all platforms. In
addition, when I checked SocialMention late at night VS had a strength of only
10% while Aerie was still close to its 50% ranking. This could be because Aerie,
unlike VS, does not have such a unique brand name that no one else will use it
online. It could also be influenced by the fact that Aerie has more passionate
followers who are talking about the brand independent of its own marketing
efforts.
sentiment
Aerie has a much better ratio of positive to negative comments. Both brands had
mostly neutral comments, but Aerie also had a lot of positive comments. This
metric is important because a ton of mentions may not be a good thing if they're
all negative.
reach
Aerie and VS have a similar reach, meaning they have close to the same number
of individual people talking about them online. Again, this is really surprising
given how many millions more followers VS has. This implies that VS's
followers are not very engaged, which they definitely should work on.

18. Final Thoughts
Objectively speaking, Victoria's Secret is killing it as a brand. They have significantly
more followers on every platform than Aerie (and most other brands!) does and
everyone knows about them. Both brands have automated marketing systems in place
and are fully evolved as brands, although Aerie is a newer brand and thus is still
establishing their strategy. However, I propose that VS is relying too heavily on its
reputation.
Aerie is following market trends and doing everything right with social media
marketing. They engage followers, use passionate influencers, and even utilize content
creation through their blog and playlists. People follow VS to get a glimpse into a
luxurious life they wish they had ---but does that translate into sales? It may have in the
past, but Victoria's Secret's profit margins are showing that it's starting to fail them.
Having the same exact content across three different platforms just won't cut it in the
digital age. Consumers don't want to see the same thing three times.
Aerie knows that passionate followers create loyal buyers. Although Aerie has not
surpassed VS in sales, they are showing consistent growth while VS struggles to find
more ways to cut costs. Aerie knows that less followers who are very engaged and
passionate are better than millions and millions of followers who only follow for
aesthetic purposes.
Aerie is the tortoise in this race, and if VS doesn't find new ways to use social media
beyond just relying on their Angels, they may find themselves surpassed.
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