Catherine's post #5

Cohn & Wolfe was not as exciting as McCann. It definitely seems more corporate based on the interior décor despite the casual attire the staff donned. I was a little surprised by what I learned that day. I always imagined the PR field to revolve solely around writing press releases and commercial brands instead of health brands. I don’t particularly love writing so I didn’t expect to like what I saw at C&W. I was very impressed by the Colgate event and have always had an interest in event planning. However, that is only a very small aspect of PR. I thought the presentation focused a little too much on the health sector so it did not give a clear picture of what PR is like. It did change my mind about the sector a little but I didn’t get a clear picture of the PR industry. I really liked the personality test that every staff takes. It is definitely important to be clear about one’s thought process and work habits. The struggle I have with figuring out what I want to do has a lot to do with not knowing how I like to work. What I imagine is often different from reality so I will probably benefit a lot from such a test. 

I love the app Titi brought up in class – Think Dirty. I recently participated in a debate in another class about organic foods. I brought up the point that people are only concerned with what they put in their mouths but not so much about what’s on their skin, which is the biggest organ on the body. I just downloaded it and look forward to utilizing it for my skincare purchases!

Candice Swanepoel in this year's Fantasy Bra

Every year, Victoria’s Secret picks a model to don a “fantasy bra” that is usually made of jewels or encrusted with gems. This year, up and coming supermodel Candice Swanepoel gets the honors. The supermodel will parade the bra as the final look of the entire show. The first fantasy bra of its kind was worth a million dollars. The bras get more and outrageous each year as shown in the slideshow at the end.  This year’s fantasy bra is one of the most expensive ones, it is worth a whopping $10 million thanks to the diamonds and jewels all over the cups. Victoria’s Secret generally gets a lot of media attention on its beautiful models in the brand’s lingerie. No doubt that sex sells, so in order to top that, VS capitalizes on luxuriousness too. This always gets a lot of attention from the media because sex sells, sex and money together takes the cake. This year’s theme for the bra is royalty so it features the colors red and blue and has a giant red ruby dangling below the cleavage. 

Speaking of Public Relations and what the speakers at Cohn & Wolfe revealed, the tweet quoted probably was not written by Candice Swanepoel but rather a carefully planned and crafted tweet released just a day before the news was released. The short tweet, devoid of details, helps to build anticipation on the details of the bra such as its worth, theme and number of special jewels.

There is still more than a month to go before the show airs. Victoria’s Secret is definitely working hard on building the anticipation and excitement for the show. Since the show’s guest performers (boyband One Direction) have already been announced and the fantasy bra is one of the biggest stars of the show, I wonder what other marketing strategies are left waiting to be released as the show date approaches.